How is the international patent application procedure handled?

1. The first step of the international patent application process: the applicant submits an international application that meets the requirements of the PCT format in one language and pays a set of fees. Step 2: International retrieval: ISA (one of the world's major patent offices) retrieves public documents that may affect the patentability of inventions and evaluates the patentability of inventions. Step 3: International Publicity The contents of the international application will be made public as soon as possible after the earliest application date 18 months expires. Step 4: Supplementary international retrieval (optional) is conducted by an international retrieval unit that is willing to provide supplementary retrieval but does not participate in the main retrieval, so as to find the published documents that have not been retrieved by the international retrieval unit that has conducted the main retrieval due to the diversity of existing technologies in the language and technical fields. Step 5: International Preliminary Examination (optional) After the international publication, at the request of the applicant (usually in the case of modifying the original application), the international retrieval unit will conduct additional patent analysis. Step 6: After the national PCT procedure is completed, the applicant begins to seek patent authorization directly from the patent office of the country (or region) that wishes to obtain a patent. Second, the benefits to oneself 1. You can apply for a patent in many countries only by submitting an international patent application, without submitting a patent application to each country separately, which provides convenience for patent applicants to apply for a patent abroad; 2. When a foreign country files an ordinary patent application, the patent applicant must file a patent application with the patent offices of various countries within 12 months from the date of filing the patent application for the first time. Through PCT, the patent applicant can go through the formalities of international patent application entering each country within 20 months after filing the patent application for the first time; If it is necessary to conduct international preliminary examination, you can also go through the formalities for international patent application to enter various countries within 30 months from the date of filing the patent application for the first time. This has prolonged the time to enter the national stage. During this period, the patent applicant can investigate the market, the commercial prospect of the invention and other factors, and decide whether to continue to apply for foreign patents, and then spend a lot of money to enter the national stage. You can save money if you decide not to apply for a patent abroad after investigation. 3. An international patent application must be searched by an international search agency in order to obtain a high-quality international search report. The international search report gives one or more existing technical documents, so that the patent applicant can not only know the status of the existing technology, but also preliminarily judge whether the invention has the prospect of granting a patent. If the international application passes the international preliminary examination, the patent applicant can also get a high-standard international preliminary examination report made by the international preliminary examination unit. If the international preliminary examination report shows that the invention does not have novelty, creativity and industrial practicability, the patent applicant may consider not entering the national phase again in order to save costs; If the international preliminary examination report shows that the invention is novel. Creativity and industrial practicality, patent applicants may obtain "strong" patents, thus considering entering the national stage. 4. Only the patent application fee needs to be paid to the acceptance bureau, not to the patent offices of all countries that require patent protection, which simplifies the payment procedures. In some countries, the national cost of international patent application is lower than that of ordinary application. 6. The language of an international patent application can be Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, etc. China applicants can apply for international patents in both Chinese and English, which provides convenience for foreign-funded enterprises in China to apply for patents. China patent holders, if they need overseas development. You can apply for related international patents for your own patents, so as to promote your products and brands abroad. When handling, you need to follow the relevant steps to make your patent more legal internationally.