Benefits of patenting inventions under the PCT system

Using the traditional system of patents, the inventor applies for a patent in several countries for each patent these countries. It is very important to submit applications for inventions in strictly fixed terms. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that all applications are filed before the expiration of 12 months from the date of the first application. This is due to the preservation of the conventional priority (ie, the date of the first filing of the application). At the same time, the applicant should be aware that there are formal requirements for each country to submit an application. When applying for an invention, the following factors should be taken into account:

1. The application must be in the language of the specific country;
2. Correspondence with the Patent Office of each country is necessary exclusively through patent attorneys. Otherwise, this correspondence may be considered illegal.
3. It is necessary to pay the duties provided in each country on time and in full. Such a system can be quite complex for the applicant of the invention. It is especially necessary to approach the issues of obtaining patents in various countries.

If the applicant of the invention has the need to obtain a patent at once in all countries of one region, then he should take advantage of the regional patenting system. This is due to the fact that the countries of a number of regions (for example, Europe, the CIS, Asia, Africa) have signed regional agreements on obtaining one patent, which will be valid in all countries of the region. Based on the signing of such agreements appeared:

1. Europatent, which covers the main European countries.
2. Eurasian patent covering a number of CIS countries.
3. ARIPO and ОAP patents covering a number of African countries.

The main advantage of obtaining a regional patent is that the applicant can obtain a patent for one invention, which is valid in any country participating in the agreement.However, there are cases when an applicant of an invention needs to obtain a patent for an invention not only in the countries of the corresponding regional system. In this case, the most correct is to perform PCT patenting. In accordance with this system, the inventors of countries that have signed the Treaty may submit one international application. This application has the force of a properly executed national application of each of the countries belonging to the signed Treaty.

Note the main advantages of patenting inventions on the PCT system:

1. An applicant does not have to pay for the preparation of applications for the same invention to different countries.
2. The applicant of the invention has more time to decide on the need to pate his invention in different countries.
3. The applicant of the invention has the opportunity to order the patent attorney for the work of the International Search and International Examination. After performing such a search, the inventor has the opportunity to more intelligently approach the issue of moving to the stage of obtaining national patents (or changing the claims in time). This will reduce unnecessary costs.