International patent application (PCT)

Costs can also be postponed with a PCT application

Another way to keep costs low in the beginning, in addition to claiming priority, is to file an international patent application, also known as a PCT application or WO application. As with a Dutch and European application, the applicant receives a search report, the priority year ends after 12 months, and the application is published after eighteen months.

The special feature of an international patent application is that it gives the applicant the right to continue the international application as a regular application in the countries that are party to the PCT convention within 30 months after filing. (See the green countries in the world map below.) An applicant can therefore file an international patent application and then wait for 30 months before determineing whether international patent protection is desired, and, if so, in which countries/regions.

PCT and the priority system

An international application can also claim priority from a previously filed patent application. One filing strategy that is often followed is shown below.

In this example, the applicant starts with a Dutch patent application for an invention. After about nine months, the search report is received. Based on the search report, the applicant decides to submit an international patent application after 12 months that claims priority from the Dutch application. The applicant now has an additional eighteen months to decide whether international patent protection is desired, and in which countries/regions, if any. (Note that, since the international application claims priority, the 30-month term is calculated from the priority date, i.e. the filing date of the Dutch application.) In this example, the applicant eventually chooses to continue the international application as a regular European patent application, US patent application and Chinese patent application. All these applications are deemed to have been filed on the filing day of the very first Dutch application.