An international patent application is a patent application filed by an applicant with the Patent Office of a certain State Party in accordance with the prescribed procedures when a patent protection is granted to an invention in the State Party of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT for short).
In the past, in order to obtain patent protection from several countries, it was necessary to apply for patents from each country one by one, and the procedures and formalities were very cumbersome. In order to solve this problem, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and other countries held a diplomatic conference in Washington, USA, and signed the Patent Cooperation Treaty. As of May this year, its member countries have reached 85. In other words, the international application submitted by the applicant is valid in 85 countries. The purpose of PCT is to strengthen the legal protection of inventions and promote international scientific and technological progress and economic development by simplifying the procedures and formalities of international patent application.
International application is divided into two stages: international and domestic. The international stage includes the acceptance, disclosure, retrieval and preliminary examination of international applications. The domestic stage mainly includes the review of international applications for authorization by designated countries or selected countries and the handling of other related affairs.
China officially became a member of PCT on 1 994 65438+1October1.It is an acceptance bureau and an international search and preliminary examination unit. The specific measures for China units or individuals to apply for international patents are as follows:
1. To apply for a patent to the Patent Office or to designate China in an international application, the State Council or the State Council shall be entrusted with a patent agency designated by the Patent Office with the consent of the relevant authorities in the State Council. After accepting the entrustment of the applicant, the patent agency shall submit the relevant documents that the relevant competent authorities in the State Council have agreed to apply for a patent abroad to the Patent Office for the record.
When submitting an international application to the International Bureau, compatriots shall provide the Patent Office with the proof of the applicant's domicile or business place, and entrust the State Council to authorize a patent agency designated by the Patent Office to handle it. China compatriots living in Hongkong, Macao and other regions who submit international applications to the International Bureau and designate the China Patent Office as an international search unit in the request shall provide nationality certificates to the Patent Office and entrust a patent agency designated by the Patent Office authorized by the State Council to handle them.
Where a resident or national submits an international application to the International Bureau in accordance with these Measures, the competent international search unit and the international preliminary examination unit shall be the Chinese Patent Office.