PCT Goals and Benefits

  • The PCT Patent provides 30 months of international protection (in the member countries) starting from the priority date. Simply, if it is based on an earlier application, then the date of the earlier application is the priority date. For example, if an individual already has a provisional application, the inventor has 30 months from the priority date of the provisional.

  • The PCT grants the inventor the capacity to identify and choose which member countries he would like to file his application. In fact, he has an invaluable full 30 months to decide.

  • The inventor receives within 17 months of the priority date a written search report identifying prior art that relates to the individual’s invention. In laymen’s terms, the individual gets an earlier indication regarding the viability of the patent. It answers the fundamental question of whether or not the invention is actually patentable. However, the conclusions of the search report are not binding on a national level. Each country gets to decide for them if they want to accept to recommendations of the report.

  • By filing a PCT application, the inventor is in essence alerting the world to his/her invention. Thus, the PCT patent can serve as a powerful marketing tool to display one’s innovative idea.

  • If some claims are determined to be viable and patentable, the inventor can indicate that to the USPTO and the case gets fast tracked and examined much faster.

  • The PCT may be filed in a variety of languages. Generally, the PCT is quite accommodating in this regard and may be submitted in any language which the receiving country’s patent office recognizes.

  • Finally, the PCT is an inexpensive way to garner international protection for quite a long time indeed.