This article is written by Panya Sethi, a third year BBA.LL.B student at Symbiosis Law School, Noida

PATENT COOPERATION TREATY”

To seek protection for an invention simultaneously in several countries, the PCT allows for the filing of a single “global” patent application that may then be used in any of those countries. A PCT application may be filed by any citizen or resident of a country that has agreed to participate in the treaty. “Candidates have the option of filing their application with the public patent office of the contracting state in which they are a citizen or resident, or with the WIPO’s Geneva-based Global Department.

If the applicant is a citizen or resident of a state that is a signatory to the European Patent Convention, the Harare Convention on Licenses and Modern Plans, the Bangui Understanding, or the Eurasian Patent Convention, then the international application can also be filed with the European Patent Office (EPO), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the African Licensed Innovation Association (OAPI), or the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO).

The international documenting date is the date on which the PCT application is recorded, which has the effect of automatically allocating all contracting nations restricted by the PCT. When a public patent application is filed with the public patent office of each assigned state, the effect of the worldwide application is the same as if individual state applications had been filed.”

A global investigation of the global application is underway. This search is conducted by one of the qualified international searching specialists (ISA) in accordance with the PCT [1], and the result is a worldwide hunt report, or at the very least a posting of the references of distributed records that may affect the patentability of the invention guaranteed in the global application. In addition to the search report outcomes, a primer and open-ended written evaluation of whether or not the invention seems to fit patentability requirements are provided.

As soon as the candidate receives the worldwide search report and written evaluation, they may evaluate its contents and either withdraw their application (in circumstances where the report and assessment suggest that issuing licenses is impossible) or make adjustments to their submission.

“INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY”

When a person files for patent protection on an invention in a showcase nation (the “essential application”), and then files an application under the Licenses, the Licenses will apply to the essential application. The filing date of a single case in a complete patent application must be at least one year after the date of the primary application if the patent is to be represented within that time frame. When a worldwide patent application is filed under the Patent Participation Agreement, it will serve as legal evidence of a patent application filed under Sections 7, 54, and 135 of the Act. The whole information includes the title, depiction, instances, unique, and drawings that are documented in the global application. In addition, the date of worldwide documentation agreed upon under the Patent Collaboration Settlement shall serve as the date of recording of a patent application and the complete information handled by the patent office.

In order to submit a PCT foreign application, an Indian applicant may do so in one of three ways:

• The Indian Patent Office not only accepts submissions but also processes them. Permission to file in a foreign jurisdiction, as granted by the Controller under section 39, must be submitted with the application. A request for approval submitted with an application for a defense/atomic use innovation may be delayed and sent to the Department of Atomic Energy for additional instructions.
• As long as the applicant has obtained clearance from the Indian Patent Office, he or she may submit an international application to the International Bureau of WIPO without first filing with any other national patent office.
• When a patent application is submitted in India, the applicant has the option of submitting an international application with the International Bureau of WIPO or with the Indian Patent Office, which acts as a receiving office, within the first 12 months after the application was filed. Permission to do so must be obtained under section 39, however, if an application is made within six weeks of the date of filing in India. 

INTERNATIONAL SEARCH

A worldwide search is performed on every application filed anywhere in the world. Finding relevant earlier innovations is the goal of the global search. An worldwide search is performed on the basis of the claims, with the description and illustrations being taken into consideration. The International Searching Authority is responsible for conducting the global search of an international application. Documentary search reports on prior art relating to innovations which are the subject of the applications are established by the International Searching Authority, which might be a State Office or an international entity. An International Search Report is compiled by the International Searching Authority designated by the applicant in the international application. Whether you want to know if your innovation is patentable, you may get a formal assessment from this organization. If no priority is claimed, the Foreign Search Report will be made accessible no later than 9 months after the international application was filed. For cases where priority is being asserted, however, the report will be ready by the 16th month after the priority date.

CONVENTION APPLICATION

When a person files a patent application for his or her invention in a participating nation (the “essential application”), and that individual, or his legal representative or trustee, then files an application under the Licenses, the Licenses will apply to the essential application. Because patents must be represented within a year of the essential application date, that date is the case’s need date in its entirety. However, if an application for protection of an invention is submitted in at least two exhibit countries, the one-year clock will begin ticking on the date on which the earlier of the two applications was filed. If, within a year after the earliest applications for security of those creations, an application for security is made in at least one show country for at least two linked advancements or where one is a change of the other, only one show application should be made in respect of those creations. In any case, the fee owed would be the same as if individual applications had been made for each development, and the requirement recommended under subsection 136(1)(b) would apply separately to the applications filed for each creation.   

HOW TO FILE A PATENT APPLICATION SIMULTANEOUSLY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

• Direct : In order to get patent protection worldwide, it is necessary to simultaneously submit individual patent applications in each participating country (for some countries, regional patents are available) 

• Paris Convention: One of the Part Conditions of the Paris Show for the Security of Modern Property requires that once a primary patent application has been recorded in a Paris Show country, separate patent applications must be recorded in all other Paris Show countries within a year of the primary application’s recording date. 

• Patent Cooperation Treaty : submit a PCT application, either immediately or during the 12-month grace period from the initial application’s filing date that the Paris Convention allows for applications to be valid in all PCT Contracting States.

CONCLUSION

In the same way, the Patents Act of 1970’s worldwide plan arrangements are in line with the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which allows candidates to seek patent security for an invention in multiple countries simultaneously by filing an international patent application rather than filing individual public patent applications in each of those countries. If a patent is granted, it will be at the exclusive discretion of the national patent office.

A request, a description, the claims, drawings (if necessary), and an abstract are all needed for an international application. An application must be submitted in the official language, meet certain formatting standards, demonstrate that the invention is unique, and include the appropriate payments. As a result, India joined a number of treaties aimed at bolstering patent protections worldwide.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.wipo.int/pct/en/ 
2. https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/registration/pct/summary_pct.html 
3. https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/ev/sections/ps7.html 
4. https://lawcirca.com/international-arrangements-under-patent-law/ 
5. https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/images/pdf/pct-filing.pdf