1. An international application may claim the priority of one or more earlier applications with the same theme.
2. For an international application claiming priority, the date of application of the earlier application, the application number of the earlier application and the country that accepted the earlier application shall be stated in the request. If the international application does not have a written statement requesting the priority of the earlier application, or the statement is incorrect, the applicant is allowed to make corrections within the next 4 months.
3. After filing a written statement claiming priority, the applicant shall submit a copy of the earlier application (i.e. priority document) which is the basis of the priority claim to the acceptance office or directly to the International Bureau.
PCT is the abbreviation of Patent Cooperation Treaty. As can be seen from its name, the Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international cooperation treaty in the patent field. Since the adoption of the Paris Convention, it has been regarded as the most important symbol of the progress of international cooperation in this field. However, it mainly involves the coordination and rationality of filing, retrieval and examination of patent applications and the dissemination of technical information contained therein. PCT does not grant "international patents": the task and responsibility of granting patents can still only be undertaken by patent offices of various countries seeking patent protection or institutions exercising their functions and powers. PCT and Paris Convention are not competitive, but actually complementary. In fact, this is a special agreement under the Paris Convention, which is only open to the member countries of the Paris Convention.