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that provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its member countries. Most countries are members of the Patent Cooperation Treaty and accept PCT patent applications. A PCT application is generally filed one year after the corresponding U.S. application (either provisional or non-provisional) has been submitted. The PCT application must later be filed in the national patent office of any country in which the applicant wishes
to seek patent protection, generally within 30 months of the earliest claimed filing date.
What is gained by filing an application under the PCT?
A PCT application provides two advantages. First, it delays the need to file costly foreign applications for 30 months, giving an applicant the opportunity to further develop, evaluate and/or market the invention for licensing. Second, the international preliminary examination often allows an applicant to simplify the patent prosecution process by having a single examiner speak to the patentability of the claims, which can save significant costs in prosecuting foreign patent applications. Another important international treaty called the Paris Convention permits a patent application filed in a second country (or a PCT application) to claim the benefit of the filing date of an application filed in a first country, provided that the subsequent application is filed in within one year of the filing date of the first application.
What is the timeline
of the patenting process?
Currently, the average U.S. non-provisional patent application remains pending for about two years, though inventors in the biotech and computer fields should plan on a longer waiting period. Once a patent is issued, it
is enforceable for 20 years from the initial filing date of the application that resulted in the patent, assuming that the required maintenance fees are paid.
Why does FAU protect some intellectual property through patenting?
Potential commercialization partners (licensees) often require patent protection to protect the commercial partner’s often sizable investment required to bring the invention to market. Due to high costs and
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