1. The applicant can file a PCT international application in China National Intellectual Property Administration, China within 12 months from the filing date (priority date) of the earlier application in China, claiming the priority of China without submitting the priority certificate.
2. China National Intellectual Property Administration, China accepts patent applications as an acceptance bureau and publishes international search reports as an international search unit. The applicant may modify his patent application documents according to the above search report.
3. Internationally published patent applications. The International Bureau will publish it within 18 months from the priority date.
4. Make a request for international preliminary examination. The applicant shall file an international preliminary examination request at the same time as the application or within 19 months from the priority date, and pay the examination fee.
5. According to the international preliminary examination report issued by the international preliminary examination unit, the applicant may modify his patent application documents according to the report. (2) PCT method enters the national stage:
The applicant can choose a PCT member country before the expiration of 30/3 1 month from the priority date and apply for its national patent to the patent office of that country, that is, enter the national phase of that country. When the PCT international application enters the national stage, it is necessary to translate the application documents into the official language of the applicant country, and its main procedures are the same as those for patent application in China, including: application entry, publication, substantive examination, authorization and other procedures. For utility models, most countries can authorize them without substantive examination; Some countries do not have utility model patents, such as the United States, Canada and Britain. In these countries, they can only apply for invention patents. Although the cost of the national phase is almost the same as the cost of applying for a national patent in each country alone, its advantage is that the priority period can be extended from 12 months to 30/3 1 month to apply for a national patent in its member countries, so that the applicant has more time to decide which countries to enter to apply for a patent with the same theme, and to modify the patent application documents according to the search report and preliminary examination report to meet the novelty and creativity of the invention.
After entering the national phase in different countries, the applicants have patents in different countries, which are independent of each other and need to pay an annual fee for each item. Applicants generally need to determine which countries will enter the national phase two to three months in advance, and entrust foreign-related institutions to start translation and document preparation. After signing an agency contract with an intellectual property agency and paying the fees stipulated in the contract, you can enter the application procedure.