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Introduction

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (or PCT) is a treaty establishing a multinational patent application and pre-processing system. As such, it provides a greatly simplified path wherein a single international patent application may be filed, which can eventually mature into multiple foreign patent applications.

Importantly, in addition to the convenience of filing a single PCT international application, the PCT process can provide an inventor or company with a period of up to 30 months to evaluate the commercial potential of an invention. If it is determined that the invention is not of significant commercial value, or can not be suitably licensed or sold, the significant cost of translating and filing an application in foreign countries can be avoided - for up to almost 30 months. Essentially, the PCT process provides a low cost alternative to filing a patent application in a number of individual countries, while also providing a considerable delay before one must commence 'national stage' activities, in each of the foreign countries of interest.

Important Internet Resources

The links listed below provide access to information that will be helpful for learning more about the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system.

PLEASE READ: Do NOT assume that the inclusion of any of the following URLs indicates or suggests an endorsement or recommendation. As such, Island Patent certainly assumes NO responsibility for the content of any Site/link listed. In addition, it is possible that some of these links, or the content thereof, have been dated, obsolete, abandoned, or reassigned since our last update.

A More Advanced PCT Description A description of the PCT system and process from the Manual of Patent Examination Procedures.