What is Patent Cooperation Treaty?
The Patent Cooperation Treaty signed in Washington, D.C., in June of 1970 and which came into force on January 24, 1978, has more than 90 signatories now. The basic tenet of the Treaty is to facilitate the filing of applications for patent on the same invention in member countries through centralized filing procedures and a standardized application format. The timely filing of an international application affords applicants an international filing date in each country which is designated in the international application and provides (1) a search of the invention and (2) a later time period within which the national applications for patent must be filed.
