How the PCT Can Help an Inventor

The United States is considered the melting pot of the world. Different upbringings, races, classes and ethnicities define what the United States is as a society. The innovation that can be found in such a diverse people as the United States means that their creations are equally as widespread. As a result, Americans invent hundreds of thousands of new things every year, inventions that are useful worldwide. The strides in the field of communication have made the global economy accessible to anyone who wishes to market a product. However, the complexity of inventions and the nearly infinite marketplace can make an entrepreneur wary about introducing a new product. He or she can create a new item and file for a patent in his or her home country, but what will guarantee that someone on the other side of the world hasn’t already patented the idea? Well, in 1970, a conference in Washington was held to address that problem. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) stemmed from the conference and was brought into force on January 21, 1978. To date, 139 countries have agreed to abide by the treaty.

The PCT procedure, also known as the international procedure, is a method by which an inventor can obtain intellectual property protection for a patent in a number of countries. In order for your patent to be examined by the international procedure, you must fill out a patent application. The PCT application is slightly different from the patent application in your home country, and is available through the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva. You will need to indicate which countries you would like to have your patent application submitted for. Once you’ve filled the application out and submitted it, your application will be put through two phases, the national phase and the international phase. The international phase is the period in which the application is filed through your home country’s patent office. The national phase follows the international phase, and constitutes the period that the application is forwarded on to the patent offices in the countries that you indicated you wanted intellectual property protection from.

There are certain rules about filing a PCT application. First of all, you must file the application once and in your home country only. The PCT application must be filed in the same language that was used in your regular patent application. You must also pay a fee for each country that you’d like to review the application, up to five countries.

Once your application is submitted, an International Searching Authority is assigned to the PCT application to determine if prior-art exists that matches the invention. The authority will write an opinion during the international phase about the patentability of your invention and whether it would be worth entering the national phase in the countries that were specified on the application. The national phase will require an investment from the inventor in order to cover filing fees in each country and translation fees if applicable.

An inventor has the option to exercise the PCT application up to 31 months following the filing date of the initial national patent application. This will leave the inventor extra time to obtain a national patent and observe what the manufacture of the new product will bring. If word spreads overseas and generates interest in the product, then it may be ideal for the inventor to submit a PCT application.