Benefits of PCT patent applications
1.Simplified
If an invention is to be patented in more than one country, through the PCT, the applicant only needs to file a single "international" patent application to request simultaneous patent protection of the invention in difference countries, and only needs to pay the patent application fee to the receiving office rather than to the patent offices of all the countries requesting patent protection. This simplifies the process of patent application and payment.
2.Confidentiality
PCT approach, as long as you choose to submit the PCT application in the priority receiving office, receiving the PCT international application number notification is equivalent to passing the confidential examination.
3. Longer term
The PCT approach can be extended to a maximum of 30 months to enter the national stage, giving the applicant enough time to make a decision, if the enterprise has not yet made it clear in which countries to submit the application before entering the national stage, you can choose the PCT approach to use this 30-month period to evaluate the economic value of the invention and the target market.
4. There is a search opinion report, which can be used as a reference for landing countries
In the international stage of the patent application, because the search fee is paid, the international search unit will give the PCT international search report, which can provide the applicant with a pre-judgment of the prospect of the right. The applicant can modify the application documents according to the search report and then enter the various country stages. In addition, to submit a PCT patent application, you only need to receive a PCT international search report with the prospect of authorization, and you can submit a PPH acceleration request when entering the national stage, speeding up the time of patent authorization in the target country.