1. You only need to submit an international patent application to apply for a patent in many countries.
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.