13. Patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application

13. Patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application

Table of Contents

Patents are territorial. that means if you have patent for your invention in India you cannot stop someone from making using selling offering for sale or importing your patented invention in some other country, that is other than India.

Obviously, you may want to protect your invention in as many countries as possible.

Patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application

To protect your invention internationally there are 3 ways:

  • File patent application directly outside India (through Convention or Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) route) without filing a patent application in India.  You need to take a Foreign Filing License (FFL) if you choose this route.
  • File patent application in India, and within 12 months of the priority date file Convention Applications in countries of your interest.
  • File PCT application within 12 months of the priority date.

If you go by the conventional way (that is by Paris convention) you need to file patent applications in all countries of your interest within 12 months from the date of filing of patent application in your home country. The Paris Convention is an international treaty that allows applicants to file the first application in their home country. And within 12 months period, further application called a Paris Convention application could be filed at desired countries.

For example, you selected 10 countries to file your patent application, can you imagine the simultaneous workload? doing all the steps in all the countries of your interest like replying to objections, request for examinations, translating your patent application into different languages and ultimately professional charges of patent agents and attorneys involved at different patent offices… and all this happening simultaneously !!!

this is what would happen if you take the convention route for international filing of your patent application. to avoid such chaotic condition expenses and additional workload patent cooperation treaty created.

“PCT is administered by World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO, and its primary objective is to provide a system where you need to make only one patent application which would be searched by at least one International search authority and examined by at least one selected International Preliminary Examination Authority IPEA”

It is important to remember that pct does not provide the grant of patent it only facilitates a single application that would be taken from searching to the examination stage centrally and which would be applicable for all the signatory countries in pct. Currently, the number of countries associated with PCT are 138.

when you file an International patent application to PCT Unlike the convention application, your international patent application is valid for all 153 member countries of PCT (that is up to the international phase) and here you have about 30 to 31 months of time to decide whether to enter into the national phase of the country of the interest. This decision depends on the international search and examination report. India joined pct membership on the 7th of December 1998.

Advantages of PCT for International Patent application

advantages of pct application over Paris convention:

  • The pct provides the most effective and most economic way of filing a patent application in multiple countries
  • It enables the application to file a single patent application with a single patent office in a single language having an effect in each country which is signatory with PCT
  • The application is searched by international search authority
  • It provides a formal examination of the international application by an international preliminary examination authority
  • centralized International Publication of international patent application
  • reduced load on patent officers by taking international patent application through searching and examination before entering into the national phase

The international phase is the phase during which the international patent application is published, search, and examined before entry in the designated country (that is national phase)

The national phase is the phase when the International patent application enters in the countries of interest. The international patent application is searched and examined by National patent offices and its granted or rejected

If you have PCT application requirement, we can discuss it over a short call and see if it has any potential to move further.

You may schedule a free discussion with experienced patent agent / attorney for your invention (innovative idea) here at My patent requirement discussion  .

Contact: +91 8055563001            My Patent Requirement             contact@patentinindia.com

Prasad Karhad
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