What does pct application mean?

PCT application refers to the procedure of applying for a patent in many countries or regions through the International Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The process of PCT application is basically a preliminary examination by the competent authority, an international application is published and searched, and finally countries use the preliminary examination report for patent examination. The main purpose of PCT is to facilitate patent applicants to apply for patents in many countries.

The advantage of PCT application is that countries use the same information for patent examination, which can save time and energy in translating and re-examining the initial documents. In addition, PCT applications can choose which countries or regions to apply for patents within 30 months. This can gradually expand the scope of patent protection and reduce the cost of patent application and maintenance.

Because PCT application involves patent examination in many countries, it requires the applicant to pay a lot of expenses and time. Applicants need to submit documents in accordance with the regulations of various countries, and also bear the application fees of various countries. PCT applications cannot be guaranteed to be approved in all countries. Therefore, the applicant needs to comprehensively consider the value of his patent and the application cost to decide whether to apply for PCT.