It is a comprehensive filing procedure that allows you to apply for protection for an invention in all member countries of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). This means that you do not need to file a patent application in each country individually. The aim of this procedure is therefore to simplify the patent application process and facilitate access to protection in several territories
This treaty is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and allows a company or inventor to file a single international application that will then be processed in PCT member countries (more than 150 countries).
The main steps in this procedure are:
- Filing the international application, either directly or under the priority of an earlier national patent application, with a receiving Office such as the International Bureau of the WIPO, the European Patent Office (EPO) or the INPI in France.
- The preparation and issuance of a preliminary international search report by the competent International Search Authority (ISA).
- International publication, which takes place 18 months after the filing date or priority date.
- The possible filing of amendments to the set of claims and/or the request for international examination to take into account the objections raised in the preliminary international search report.
- Entry into the national or regional phase: the applicant chooses the territories in which they wish to obtain protection for their invention. These entries generally require the payment of official fees and translations into the official languages of these territories.
The duration of the international phase, which ends with entry into the national or regional phase, is generally between 18 months, when claiming a prior national patent application, and 30 months (31 months for entry into the European phase).
The advantages of the PCT procedure include:
- Simplification: a single application allows protection to be sought in many countries.
- Deferral of decisions and costs: the international phase allows time to be saved in deciding which countries to apply for protection in, generally up to 30 or 31 months after the filing of the priority application or the international application without priority claim.
- Centralised search and examination to test the validity of the application before incurring significant costs for future national and/or regional procedures.
In summary, the international application or PCT application simplifies the international patent application process by allowing the applicant to seek protection in several countries at once. This gives more time to assess the commercial value of the invention and decide in which countries to pursue protection for it.