PCT

Patent Cooperation Treaty

The Patent Cooperation Treaty or PCT is an international patent law treaty. The PCT provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty is called an international application, or PCT application. A single filing of an international application is made with a Receiving Office (RO) in one language. It then results in a search performed by an International Searching Authority (ISA), accompanied by a written opinion regarding the patentability of the invention, which is the subject of the application.

The PCT procedure essentially leads to a standard national or regional patent application, which may be granted or rejected according to applicable law, in each jurisdiction in which a patent is desired. The contracting states which are parties to the PCT, constitute the International Patent Cooperation Union.