Can I apply for a foreign patent through PCT?

Patent cooperation treaty (patent? Cooperation? Treaty), referred to as PCT. An international cooperation treaty mainly involves the cooperation and rationality of filing, retrieval and preliminary examination of patent applications, as well as the dissemination of technical information contained therein. PCT does not grant "international patents", and the task and responsibility of granting patents can only be mastered by patent offices in various countries seeking patent protection. PCT international patent applicants can abide by the Paris Convention, the World Trade Organization (World? Trade? Organization? WTO) and other international treaties, in its first patent application? (such as domestic patent application) claim international priority within 12 months from the date of filing; It is required to take the filing date of the first patent application as the priority date and the priority date as the benchmark date to judge whether the PCT international application meets the patent requirements such as novelty and progress and the principle of first application.

If the international application is submitted within 14 months after the expiration of the priority period of 12 months, the applicant may state the reasons and pay the relevant fees to request the restoration of the priority. However, some member States do not accept and/or accept the above-mentioned request to restore priority.

After 18 months from the filing date or priority date of the PCT international patent application, the International Bureau will make a unified international disclosure. ? Small but big: low-cost registration in more than 142 countries and regions around the world.

Protect the filing date to avoid the loss of novelty: all PCT member countries recognize the international filing date and priority date of PCT as the national filing date and priority date when entering the national phase.

Avoid the waste of patent fees: before determining the market value, in a relatively long period of time (30 months), take the lowest fee as the basic application date.

Save the cost and process of the national phase: use the international search and international preliminary examination opinions of PCT international phase to modify the patent specification and patent application scope and improve the approval rate; After entering the national stage, we can avoid unnecessary refutation and modification of defense procedures.