Under the provisions of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), a single patent application can be filed, designating any or all of the following countries or regions which have ratified the PCT:
(i) Regions
(ii) Countries
| Albania Algeria Antigua and Barbuda Australia Barbados Belize Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Canada China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cuba Croatia Dominica |
Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Georgia Grenada Guatemala Honduras India Indonesia Israel Japan Lao People's Democratic Republic Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Macedonia Madagascar Malaysia |
Malta (1/3/2007) Mexico Mongolia Morocco New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria North Korea Norway Oman Papua New Guinea Philippines Saint Lucia Saint Kitts and Nevis San Marino Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Serbia |
Seychelles Singapore South Africa South Korea Sri Lanka Syrian Arab Republic Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Ukraine United States of America United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Viet Nam |
The European Patent Convention countries Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Turkey and United Kingdom may be designated by the national patent route as well as the European Patent route.
The Eurasian countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakstan, Kyrgystan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan may be designated individually by the national route or collectively through the Eurasian Patent Convention route.
The ARIPO member countries Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe may be designated by the national patent route as well as the ARIPO route.
None of the OAPI member countries can be designated individually.
The PCT is not a patent granting system; it functions as a central application procedure, and eventually the application must leave the so-called "International phase" and enter the "National or Regional phase" in each desired country or region which has been designated. The PCT system comprises an enhanced International search and examination system in which a search is conducted and a written opinion on patentability (i.e. novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability) is produced for each International application. This is usually within 16 months from the earliest priority date. The applicant then has an opportunity to evaluate their position and may submit informal comments to the International Bureau.
The applicant may choose to move to the national or regional phase at any stage after expiry of 19 months from the earliest priority date. The applicant has an opportunity to amend the claims and/or request International preliminary examination (on the basis of the amended claims, if submitted), at 22 months from the earliest priority date or three months from the issuance date of the novelty search report and written opinion. In any event, the applicant must enter national or regional phase at 30 or 31 months from the priority date as appropriate for the designated regions or countries.
Once in the national or regional phase, the further prosecution of a PCT application is conducted under the national or regional law.
The main advantage of the PCT is that it allows a major component of the costs to be deferred and thereby gives the applicant an opportunity to evaluate the usefulness of continuing with a protection program, both in terms of the economic potential of the invention and its patentability as assessed by the search report and written opinions and, optionally, preliminary examination of the application.
Despite the existence of the European and PCT system, the usual procedure for an Irish applicant is to start by filing a patent application at the Irish Patents Office. If a European or PCT patent application is filed within one year from the Irish application date, that application can claim the Irish application date as a priority date under the International Convention.
In certain situations it may be advantageous to file the initial application as a European or a PCT application to obtain a comprehensive search report in advance of the expiry of the twelve months priority period.
Renewal fees for maintaining a pending application are payable, with some exceptions, from the third anniversary of the application and annually from grant for the term of the patent.
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