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Until 1978, if you wanted to obtain patent protection in foreign countries your
only option was to file a separate patent application in each country. You could
only do so within twelve months of filing the first application in order to maintain
the original application filing date. Due to the short time frame, you had to
invest large sums of money before you had a chance to assess market response to
your invention. This was a complex process, requiring costly application preparation
and dealing with many patent practitioners worldwide.
Since 1978, you have another option: the PCT or Patent Cooperation Treaty. The
PCT allows you to defer the expenses of multiple national filings for up to thirty
months, while maintaining your rights for the invention filing date. In 2004 about
130 countries, most of the industrialized world, subscribed to the PCT. The most
notable exceptions are Taiwan, some Latin American countries, and some Arab countries.
Under the PCT, your application may be the first filed application or, if you
already filed in a contracting state, it may be filed within twelve months of
that initial filing without losing the important priority date of the first application.
Art relating to your application will be searched against a large international
patent database and an international search report will be issued. This gives
you up to thirty months before you can file national applications in the countries
in which you wish to file. The period of up to thirty months gives you a chance
to assess the commercial advantages to filing in each individual country.
PCT filing is not cheap. A simple application may cost a few thousand dollars.
It is, however, far less expensive than the individual filing and the cost has
to be weighed against the expected profits from the international market throughout
the many years that the patent will be enforceable.
When arriving at the national stage, filing individually at different countries
of interest, your patent agent will work closely with patent practitioners of
that country. It is important to choose a patent practitioner who is sensitive
to cultural differences. Selecting such an agent can often make the process smoother
and avoid misunderstandings that may cause a loss of rights. Again, we believe
that Saltamar Innovations can help you in this aspect of your intellectual property
portfolio.
A common mistake is to call a PCT an "international patent". There is no such
animal. A PCT application is an international patent APPLICATION. While certain
regions of the world can issue a regional patent, such as a European patent issued
by the European patent office, no authority can issue an "international patent".