1. is directly applicable to a certain country.
An applicant may entrust a foreign agency (usually a partner of a domestic agency) to apply for a patent in a certain country through a domestic agency. Applicants need to submit applications to different countries, and the patent departments of various countries need to examine and approve patents independently. This method is traditional, and it is suitable for cases where there are few countries involved in patent application.
2.PCT application
PCT, the abbreviation of Patent Cooperation Treaty, means "Patent Cooperation Treaty", which is an international cooperation treaty in the patent field; It stipulates the cooperation between member countries in the submission, retrieval and examination of patent applications, which is especially suitable for the situation of applying for patents in multiple countries at the same time, and can effectively save procedures and expenses;
3. Schematic diagram of traditional application mode and PCT application mode:
Second, about priority.
According to the provisions of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, an applicant who formally files a patent application in a member country of the Paris Convention can enjoy priority if he files a patent application in another country within a certain period of time;
The above priority period is 65,438+02 months for invention patents and utility model patents, and 6 months for design patents. Therefore, applicants generally need to apply for domestic patents before applying for foreign patents. From the date of domestic patent application, if you submit a foreign application (including a separate application from a certain country or a PCT application) within the above priority period, you will enjoy domestic patent priority.
Thirdly, about the PCT application procedure.
1. International stage
The international stage is the first stage of the international application examination and approval procedure; It includes the necessary procedures of international application acceptance, formal examination, international retrieval and international publication, as well as optional international preliminary examination procedures.
China applicants can directly file an international application with the China Patent Office through an agency. In the international stage, all procedures are carried out in the Chinese Patent Office, except that the international publication is unified by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Formal examination refers to the examination by China National Patent Office whether the international application documents submitted by the applicant meet the requirements of PCT, whether the relevant documents are submitted within the prescribed time limit, and whether the applicant has paid the relevant fees in full.
International retrieval means that the China National Patent Office searches the theme of international application according to the provisions of PCT, finds out the related registered patents and indicates the relevant degree. Usually, the Chinese Patent Office makes an international search report within 4 months from the date of international application.
International preliminary examination means that the Chinese Patent Office examines the international application at the request of the applicant and puts forward preliminary and non-binding opinions on whether the applicant's invention is novel, creative and industrial practical; Under normal circumstances, China Patent Office will make an international preliminary examination report within 9 months from the date of receiving the international preliminary examination request.