What is patent prosecution? Can I file an application under the PCT? Under the PCT-Patent Prosecution Highway, an applicant receiving a written opinion or an international preliminary examination report from either the Austrian Patent Office (APO) or the USPTO that at least one claim in a PCT application has novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability may request that the other office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution procedures by sharing information between some patent offices.
Patent prosecution is the legal right to protect your intellectual property. This page provides a general overview of the PPH system and its requirements. In general terms, your international patent application, provided that it complies with the minimum requirements for obtaining an international filing date, has the effect of a national patent application (and certain regional patent applications) in or for all PCT Contracting States.
Moreover, if you comply with certain formal requirements set out in the Treaty and Regulations, which are binding on all of the PCT Contracting States, subsequent adaptation to varying national (or regional) for. Who has the right to file an international patent application under the PCT ? You are entitled to file an international patent application if you are a national or resident of a PCT Contracting State. If there are several applicants named in the international application, only one of them needs to comply with this requirement. Where can I file my international patent application?
Both of those Offices act as PCT “receiving Offices”. If you are a national or resident of a country which is party to the ARIPO Harare Protocol, the OAPI Bangui Agreement, the Eurasian Patent Convention or the European Patent Convention, you may alternatively file your international patent application with the regi. See full list on wipo.
Which Office will carry out the international search of my PCT application? A PCT international search is a high quality search of the relevant patent documents and other technical literature in those languages in which most patent applications are filed (Chinese, English, German and Japanese, and in certain cases, French, Korean, Russian and Spanish). The high quality of the search is assured by the standards prescribed in the PCT for the documentation to be consulte and by the qualified staff and uniform search methods of the ISAs, which are all experienced paten.
The international search report consists mainly of a listing of references to published patent documents and technical journal articles which might affect the patentability of the invention disclosed in the international application. The report contains indications for each of the documents listed as to their possible relevance to the critical patentability questions of novelty and inventive step (non-obviousness). Together with the search report, the ISA prepares a written opinion on patenta. Supplementary international search permits the applicant to request, in addition to the international search (the “main international search”), one or more supplementary international searches each to be carried out by an ISA other than the ISA which carried out the main international search. The additional search has the potential of reducing the risk of new patent documents and other technical literature being discovered in the national phase since, by requesting supplementary search the ap.
However, it does not repeat documents which have already been cited in the international search report, unless this is necessary because of new relevance when read in conjunction wit. PCT international applications are published online on PATENTSCOPE, a powerful, fully searchable database with flexible, multilingual interfaces and translation tools to assist users and the public in understanding the content of published applications. Can third parties access documents contained in the file of the international application? Until international publication (months after the priority date), no third party is allowed access to your international application unless you as applicant request or authorize it. If you wish to withdraw your application (and you do so before international publication), international publication does not take place an as a consequence, no access by third parties is permitted.
However, when international publication occurs, certain documents in the international application file are mad. International preliminary examination is a second evaluation of the potential patentability of the invention, using the same standards on which the written opinion of the ISA was based (see Question 18). If you wish to make amendments to your international application in order to overcome documents identified in the international search report and conclusions made in the written opinion of the ISA, international preliminary examination provides the only possibility to actively participate in.
It provides you with an even stronger basis on which to evaluate your chances of obtaining patents, in most cases on an amended application, an if the report is favorable, a stronger basis on which to continue with your application before the national an. How do I enter the national phase? It is only after you have decided whether, and in respect of which States, you wish to proceed further with your international application that you must fulfill the requirements for entry into the national phase.
These requirements include paying national fees an in some cases, filing translations of the application. These steps must be taken, in relation to the majority of PCT Contracting States’ patent Offices, before the end of the 30th month from thepriority date. There may also be othe. Once you have entered the national phase, the national or regional patent Offices concerned begin the process of determining whether they will grant you a patent. Any examination which these Offices may undertake should be made easier by the PCT international search report and the written opinion and even more by an international preliminary examination report.
It also organizes the PCT Assembly, the PCT Working Group and the Meeting of International Authorities. The PCT is an international treaty with more than 1Contracting States. The PCT makes it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in a large number of countries by filing a single “international” patent application instead of filing several separate national or regional patent applications. WIPO administers the PCT.
Broadly, patent prosecution can be split into pre-grant prosecution , which involves negotiation with a patent office for the grant of a patent, and post-grant prosecution , which involves issues such as post-grant amendment and opposition. In order to file a PCT application, either an inventor or assignee of the application must be a national or resident of a PCT member country. Patent Cooperation Treaty ( PCT ) offers a convenient way for applicants to obtain international patent protection. It can take a long time for your application to mature into a patent.
Hi Michael, In my experience, if the client is interested in filing into 3-countries, it is usually more cost-effective to file via the PCT.