Patent Cooperation Treaty
Encyclopedia
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international
patent
law
treaty
, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent application
s to protect invention
s in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application, or PCT application.
A single filing of an international application is made with a Receiving Office (RO) in one language. It then results in a search
performed by an International Searching Authority (ISA), accompanied by a written opinion regarding the patentability
of the invention, which is the subject of the application. It is optionally followed by a preliminary examination, performed by an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA). Finally, the relevant national or regional authorities administer matters related to the examination of application (if provided by national law) and issuance of patent.
A PCT application does not itself result in the grant of a patent, since there is no such thing as an "international patent", and the grant of patent is a prerogative of each national or regional authority. In other words, a PCT application, which establishes a filing date in all contracting states, must be followed up with the step of entering into national or regional phases in order to proceed towards grant of one or more patents. The PCT procedure essentially leads to a standard national or regional patent application, which may be granted or rejected according to applicable law, in each jurisdiction in which a patent is desired.
The contracting states, the states which are parties to the PCT, constitute the International Patent Cooperation Union.
can become a member of the PCT.
A majority of the world's countries are signatories to the PCT, including all of the major industrialised countries (with a few exceptions, including Argentina
and Taiwan
). As of June 26, 2011, there were 144 contracting states to the PCT. Qatar
became the 143rd contracting state on May 3, 2011, and Rwanda
became the 144th contracting state on May 31, 2011. The PCT entered into force in Qatar on 3 August 2011, and in Rwanda on 31 August 2011.
An international patent application (also called PCT application, as mentioned above) has two phases. The first phase is the international phase in which patent protection is pending under a single patent application filed with the patent office of a contracting state of the PCT. The second phase is the national and regional phase which follows the international phase in which rights are continued by filing necessary documents with the patent offices of separate contracting states of the PCT. A PCT application, as such, is not an actual request that a patent be granted, and it is not converted into one unless and until it enters the "national phase".
or legal person) must be a national
or resident
of a contracting state to the PCT; otherwise, no international filing date is accorded. In most member states, the applicant or at least one of the applicants of the application is required to be a national or resident of the state of the receiving office where the application is filed. Applicants from any contracting state may file an international patent application at the International Bureau in Geneva.
Upon filing of the international application, all contracting states are automatically designated. Subject to reservations made by any contracting state, an international patent application fulfilling the requirements of the treaty and accorded an international filing date has the effect of a regular national application in each designated state as of the international filing date, which date is considered to be the actual filing date in each designated State. However, in some countries, the prior effect of an international application filed outside such countries may be different from the prior effect of a local national application. For example, in the United States, an international patent application filed outside the United States has a different prior art effect than a direct US application.
documents regarding the claimed subject matter. The search results in an International Search Report (ISR), together with a written opinion regarding patentability
.
The ISR is normally provided by the ISA to the applicant 9 months after filing of the application in the event of a first filing and 16 months after the priority date
in the event of a subsequent filing (i.e., claiming the priority of a first filing).
The ISR is published together with the international application (or as soon as possible afterwards). The written opinion is initially confidential, but unless it is superseded by an International Preliminary Examination Report (see optional examination, below), it is made available in the form of an International Preliminary Report on Patentability (Chapter I of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or IPRP Chapter I), within 30 months of the filing date or a priority date, if any. If the ISR is not in English, it is translated into English for publication. A designated Office may require a translation of the IPRP Chapter I into English.
The international search report can help the applicant to decide whether it would be worthwhile to seek national protection, and if so, in how many countries, as it costs fees and other expenses, including costs of translation, to enter the national phase in each country. Yet another advantage of filing an international application under the PCT is that many national patent authorities will rely on the international search report (although the PCT does not oblige them to do so) instead of starting from scratch to search the prior art themselves, and the applicant may be able to save in search fees.
In addition to the compulsory international search, one or more optional supplementary international searches may also be carried out by participating International Searching Authorities, upon request by the applicant and payment of corresponding fees. The purpose is to reduce the likelihood of seeing new prior art being cited in the subsequent national phases. A supplementary international search is said to allow applicants to obtain an additional search report "taking into account the growing linguistic diversity of the prior art being found". In 2009 and 2010, the demand for supplementary international searches was relatively low.
, Switzerland
, in one of the ten "languages of publication": Arabic
, Chinese
, English
, French
, German
, Japanese
, Korean
, Portuguese
, Russian
, and Spanish
. There is an exception to this rule, however. If 18 months after the priority date, the international application designates only the United States
, then the application is not automatically published.
If the written opinion established by the International Searching Authority (ISA) is positive, "there is little value to be obtained from filing a demand". However, "[for] cases where the written opinion of the ISA contains negative findings, the savings in the applicant’s/agent’s time and, where applicable, agent’s fees, required by multiple responses to national offices may well justify the use of the Chapter II procedure." There are many advantages, such as cost and effort savings ("as well as possibly shortened pendency/faster grants"), in receiving a favorable IPRP Chapter II, i.e. a favorable report following an international preliminary examination. For instance, national offices "with a smaller examining staff and those without examiners tend to rely more heavily on the results in the IPRP Chapter II".
When an examination is demanded, the contracting states for which the examination is demanded are called Elected Offices (under Chapter II), otherwise they are called Designated Offices (under Chapter I). The election of a contracting state correspondingly means electing it when demanding (requesting) the examination.
An alternative to the filing of a demand for international preliminary examination is to file informal comments in response to the written opinion established by the ISA. These informal comments are not published. The informal comments should be submitted to the International Bureau (IB), and not to the ISA or the IPEA. They are kept in the file of the international application and, in the case where no demand is filed, forwarded to the designated offices, which are free to require a translation of the informal comments.
s to the extent that the Authority is not equipped to carry out a search or international preliminary examination concerning such programs. However, while a lack of international search may make national processing more difficult, makes clear that this does not affect the issue of whether the invention is patentable under the laws of the designated States:
If the entry into national or regional phase is not performed within the prescribed time limit, the international application generally ceases to have the effect of a national or regional application.
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
treaty
Treaty
A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent application
Patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...
s to protect invention
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
s in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application, or PCT application.
A single filing of an international application is made with a Receiving Office (RO) in one language. It then results in a search
Prior art
Prior art , in most systems of patent law, constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality...
performed by an International Searching Authority (ISA), accompanied by a written opinion regarding the patentability
Patentability
Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent...
of the invention, which is the subject of the application. It is optionally followed by a preliminary examination, performed by an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA). Finally, the relevant national or regional authorities administer matters related to the examination of application (if provided by national law) and issuance of patent.
A PCT application does not itself result in the grant of a patent, since there is no such thing as an "international patent", and the grant of patent is a prerogative of each national or regional authority. In other words, a PCT application, which establishes a filing date in all contracting states, must be followed up with the step of entering into national or regional phases in order to proceed towards grant of one or more patents. The PCT procedure essentially leads to a standard national or regional patent application, which may be granted or rejected according to applicable law, in each jurisdiction in which a patent is desired.
The contracting states, the states which are parties to the PCT, constitute the International Patent Cooperation Union.
History
The Washington Diplomatic Conference on the Patent Cooperation Treaty was held in Washington from May 25 to June 19, 1970. The Patent Cooperation Treaty was signed on the last day of the conference on June 19, 1970. The Treaty entered into force on January 24, 1978, initially with 18 contracting states. The first international applications were filed on June 1, 1978. The Treaty was subsequently amended in 1979, and modified in 1984 and 2001.Accession
Any contracting state to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial PropertyParis Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property...
can become a member of the PCT.
A majority of the world's countries are signatories to the PCT, including all of the major industrialised countries (with a few exceptions, including Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Taiwan
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
). As of June 26, 2011, there were 144 contracting states to the PCT. Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
became the 143rd contracting state on May 3, 2011, and Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
became the 144th contracting state on May 31, 2011. The PCT entered into force in Qatar on 3 August 2011, and in Rwanda on 31 August 2011.
Procedure
The main advantages of the PCT procedure, also referred to as the international procedure, are the possibility to delay as much as possible the national or regional procedures, and the respective fees and translation costs, and the unified filing procedure.An international patent application (also called PCT application, as mentioned above) has two phases. The first phase is the international phase in which patent protection is pending under a single patent application filed with the patent office of a contracting state of the PCT. The second phase is the national and regional phase which follows the international phase in which rights are continued by filing necessary documents with the patent offices of separate contracting states of the PCT. A PCT application, as such, is not an actual request that a patent be granted, and it is not converted into one unless and until it enters the "national phase".
Filing
The first step of the procedure consists in filing an international (patent) application with a suitable patent office, called a Receiving Office (RO). This application is usually called an international application or simply a PCT application since it does not result in an international patent nor in a PCT patent (both of which do not exist). The international application needs to be filed in one language only, although translations may still be required for international search and international publication, depending on the language of filing and the International Searching Authority to be used. At least one applicant (either a physicalPerson
A person is a human being, or an entity that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human , for example in a particular moral or legal context...
or legal person) must be a national
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
or resident
Dwelling
Dwelling, as well as being a term for a house, or for living somewhere, or for lingering somewhere, is a philosophical concept which was developed by Martin Heidegger. Dwelling is about making yourself at home where the home itself is a building that is a house...
of a contracting state to the PCT; otherwise, no international filing date is accorded. In most member states, the applicant or at least one of the applicants of the application is required to be a national or resident of the state of the receiving office where the application is filed. Applicants from any contracting state may file an international patent application at the International Bureau in Geneva.
Upon filing of the international application, all contracting states are automatically designated. Subject to reservations made by any contracting state, an international patent application fulfilling the requirements of the treaty and accorded an international filing date has the effect of a regular national application in each designated state as of the international filing date, which date is considered to be the actual filing date in each designated State. However, in some countries, the prior effect of an international application filed outside such countries may be different from the prior effect of a local national application. For example, in the United States, an international patent application filed outside the United States has a different prior art effect than a direct US application.
| International Searching Authorities (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authorities (IPEA) |
| 1. Austrian Patent Office (AT). |
| 2. Australian Patent Office IP Australia The Australian Patent Office is a division of IP Australia which is an agency of the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. APO issues patents for inventions. APO was established in 1904 by the Commonwealth of Australia and since 1998 has been located in one building,... (AU). |
| 3. National Institute of Industrial Property (BR). |
| 4. Canadian Intellectual Property Office Canadian Intellectual Property Office The Canadian Intellectual Property Office is the patent, trademark, and copyright administration body of Canada. Structurally the CIPO functions as a Special Operating Agency which is associated with Industry Canada.... (CA). |
| 5. State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (CN). |
| 6. European Patent Office European Patent Office The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative... (EP). |
| 7. Spanish Patent and Trademark Office Spanish Patent and Trademark Office The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office is a body of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade of Spain. The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office is in charge of patents in Spain... (ES). |
| 8. National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (FI). |
| 9. Japan Patent Office Japan Patent Office The Japan Patent Office is a Japanese governmental agency in charge of industrial property right affairs, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry... (JP). |
| 10. Korean Intellectual Property Office Korean Intellectual Property Office The Korean Intellectual Property Office is the patent office and intellectual property office of South Korea. In 2000, the name of the office was changed from "Korean Industrial Property Office" to "Korean Intellectual Property Office". It is located in Daejeon Metropolitan City... (KR). |
| 11. Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Russian Federation) (RU). |
| 12. Swedish Patent and Registration Office Swedish Patent and Registration Office The Swedish Patent and Registration Office is a Swedish government agency based in Stockholm and Söderhamn. The agency is in charge of patents, trademarks and industrial designs. The Office acts as Patent Cooperation Treaty authority, i.e. International Searching Authority and International... (SE). |
| 13. United States Patent and Trademark Office United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,... (US). |
| 14. Nordic Patent Institute Nordic Patent Institute The Nordic Patent Institute is an intergovernmental organisation established by the governments of Denmark, Iceland and Norway. It is based in Taastrup, Denmark. Since January 1, 2008, the Institute acts as Patent Cooperation Treaty authority, i.e... (XN). |
| Note 1: All International Searching Authorities are also International Preliminary Examining Authorities. |
| Note 2: The Egyptian Patent Office and the Israeli Patent Office were appointed as ISA and IPEA on September 25, 2009. Their appointments will become effective when they are ready to begin operations. |
Search and written opinion
A search or international search is then made by an authorized International Searching Authority (ISA) to find the most relevant prior artPrior art
Prior art , in most systems of patent law, constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality...
documents regarding the claimed subject matter. The search results in an International Search Report (ISR), together with a written opinion regarding patentability
Patentability
Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent...
.
The ISR is normally provided by the ISA to the applicant 9 months after filing of the application in the event of a first filing and 16 months after the priority date
Priority right
In patent, industrial design rights and trademark laws, a priority right or right of priority is a time-limited right, triggered by the first filing of an application for a patent, an industrial design or a trademark respectively...
in the event of a subsequent filing (i.e., claiming the priority of a first filing).
The ISR is published together with the international application (or as soon as possible afterwards). The written opinion is initially confidential, but unless it is superseded by an International Preliminary Examination Report (see optional examination, below), it is made available in the form of an International Preliminary Report on Patentability (Chapter I of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or IPRP Chapter I), within 30 months of the filing date or a priority date, if any. If the ISR is not in English, it is translated into English for publication. A designated Office may require a translation of the IPRP Chapter I into English.
The international search report can help the applicant to decide whether it would be worthwhile to seek national protection, and if so, in how many countries, as it costs fees and other expenses, including costs of translation, to enter the national phase in each country. Yet another advantage of filing an international application under the PCT is that many national patent authorities will rely on the international search report (although the PCT does not oblige them to do so) instead of starting from scratch to search the prior art themselves, and the applicant may be able to save in search fees.
In addition to the compulsory international search, one or more optional supplementary international searches may also be carried out by participating International Searching Authorities, upon request by the applicant and payment of corresponding fees. The purpose is to reduce the likelihood of seeing new prior art being cited in the subsequent national phases. A supplementary international search is said to allow applicants to obtain an additional search report "taking into account the growing linguistic diversity of the prior art being found". In 2009 and 2010, the demand for supplementary international searches was relatively low.
Publication
18 months after the filing date or the priority date, the international application is published by the International Bureau at the WIPO, based in GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, in one of the ten "languages of publication": Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. There is an exception to this rule, however. If 18 months after the priority date, the international application designates only the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, then the application is not automatically published.
Optional examination
An international preliminary examination may optionally be requested ("demanded"). The international preliminary examination is conducted by an authorized International Preliminary Examination Authority (IPEA). This results in an International Preliminary Examination Report (IPER). Since 2004, the IPER bears the title "international preliminary report on patentability (Chapter II of the Patent Cooperation Treaty)" (commonly abbreviated "IPRP Chapter II"). The filing of a demand for international preliminary examination, which must be done within a time limit, is subject to the payment of a "handling fee" for the benefit of the International Bureau and a "preliminary examination fee" for the benefit of the IPEA. The cost of filing a demand varies depending on the IPEA used by the applicant.If the written opinion established by the International Searching Authority (ISA) is positive, "there is little value to be obtained from filing a demand". However, "[for] cases where the written opinion of the ISA contains negative findings, the savings in the applicant’s/agent’s time and, where applicable, agent’s fees, required by multiple responses to national offices may well justify the use of the Chapter II procedure." There are many advantages, such as cost and effort savings ("as well as possibly shortened pendency/faster grants"), in receiving a favorable IPRP Chapter II, i.e. a favorable report following an international preliminary examination. For instance, national offices "with a smaller examining staff and those without examiners tend to rely more heavily on the results in the IPRP Chapter II".
When an examination is demanded, the contracting states for which the examination is demanded are called Elected Offices (under Chapter II), otherwise they are called Designated Offices (under Chapter I). The election of a contracting state correspondingly means electing it when demanding (requesting) the examination.
An alternative to the filing of a demand for international preliminary examination is to file informal comments in response to the written opinion established by the ISA. These informal comments are not published. The informal comments should be submitted to the International Bureau (IB), and not to the ISA or the IPEA. They are kept in the file of the international application and, in the case where no demand is filed, forwarded to the designated offices, which are free to require a translation of the informal comments.
Subject matter
The PCT does not make any specific provision concerning the types of invention which may be the subject of an international application. Rules 39 and 67 permit International Searching and Preliminary Examining Authorities not to carry out search and examination on certain types of subject matter, such as scientific and mathematical theories, methods of doing business and computer programComputer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
s to the extent that the Authority is not equipped to carry out a search or international preliminary examination concerning such programs. However, while a lack of international search may make national processing more difficult, makes clear that this does not affect the issue of whether the invention is patentable under the laws of the designated States:
- "Nothing in this Treaty and the Regulations is intended to be construed as prescribing anything that would limit the freedom of each contracting state to prescribe such substantive conditions of patentability as it desires. (...)"
National and regional phase
Finally, at 30 months from the filing date of the international application or from the earliest priority date of the application if a priority is claimed, the international phase ends and the international application enters in national and regional phase. However, any national law may fix time limits which expire later than 30 months. For instance, it is possible to enter the European regional phase at 31 months from the earliest priority date. National and regional phases can also be started earlier on the express request of the applicant, even before publication of the international application.If the entry into national or regional phase is not performed within the prescribed time limit, the international application generally ceases to have the effect of a national or regional application.
Statistics
The millionth international application (or PCT application) was filed at the end of 2004, whereas the two millionth application was filed in 2011. The first ever decline in the number of filed PCT applications in an over 30-year history occurred in 2009, with a 4.5 percent drop compared to 2008. WIPO provides regular updated statistics on its website.See also
- Computer programs and the Patent Cooperation Treaty
- European Patent OrganisationEuropean Patent OrganisationThe European Patent Organisation is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention of 1973...
(EPO) - Eurasian Patent OrganizationEurasian Patent OrganizationThe Eurasian Patent Organization is a regional organization set up by the Eurasian Patent Convention . Its task is to grant Eurasian patents...
(EAPO) - Intellectual PropertyIntellectual propertyIntellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
- Patent Law TreatyPatent Law TreatyThe Patent Law Treaty is a patent law multilateral treaty concluded on 1 June 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland, by 53 States and the European Patent Organisation...
(PLT) - PCT GazettePCT GazetteThe PCT Gazette is a weekly bilingual publication of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It is published by the International Bureau of WIPO pursuant to Article 55 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty , which provides a system for filing international applications...
- PCT NewsletterPCT NewsletterThe PCT Newsletter is a monthly publication of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It contains "up-to-date news about the Patent Cooperation Treaty ", which provides a system for filing international applications. The PCT Newsletter is published in English only...
- Substantive Patent Law TreatySubstantive Patent Law TreatyThe Substantive Patent Law Treaty is a proposed international patent law treaty aimed at harmonizing substantive points of patent law. In contrast with the Patent Law Treaty , signed in 2000 and now in force, which only relates to formalities, the SPLT aims at going far beyond formalities to...
(SPLT) - World Intellectual Property OrganizationWorld Intellectual Property OrganizationThe World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world"....
(WIPO)
Further reading
- Cees Mulder, The Cross-Referenced Patent Cooperation Treaty, updated yearly, Helze Publisher. http://www.helze.com
- Peter Watchorn and Andrea Veronese, PCT Procedures and Passage into the European Phase, Kastner AG, 2nd Edition, 2010, ISBN 978-3-941951-11-2 http://www.pct-compass.com.
External links
- Patent Cooperation Treaty resources on the WIPO web site
- Patent Cooperation Treaty: html, pdf
- Regulations: html, pdf (also: History of the PCT Regulations - June 19, 1970 - July 1, 2010)
- Applicant's Guide
- Glossary
- Administrative Instructions (pdf)
- Receiving Office Guidelines (pdf)
- International Search and Preliminary Examination Guidelines (pdf)
- Records of the Washington Diplomatic Conference on the Patent Cooperation Treaty, 1970
- PCT Contracting States and Two-letter Codes (with map),
- Regularly updated list of Contracting States (pdf)
- Regularly updated list of Country Names and 2 Letter Codes (pdf)
- Time Limits for Entering National/Regional Phase under PCT Chapters I and II (pdf)
- Protecting your inventions abroad: Frequently asked questions about the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on the WIPO web site
- PCT Yearly Review