How to carry out international patenting of an invention (utility model)?

Patents are territorially limited. The most convenient system for international patenting is patenting under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) procedure.

The PCT is an international treaty with more than 155 Contracting States.

The PCT makes it possible to patent an invention simultaneously for a large number of countries by filing a single “international” patent application, instead of filing several separate national or regional patent applications.

The patenting procedure according to the PCT is conditionally divided into two main stages – the international phase and the national phase.

The international phase begins with the submission of an international application to the receiving agency (in Ukraine, this is Ukrpatent) and includes the following stages:

• setting the date of international submission and processing of the application by the receiving department;
• conducting an international search by the International Searching Authority, as a result of which the applicant is sent a report on the international search and a written notification about the patentability of the invention;
• international publication of the application by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (in most cases together with the international search report);
• conducting an additional search;
• conducting an international preliminary examination by the International Preliminary Examination Body, followed by providing the applicant with an international preliminary opinion on the patentability of the invention.

The last two stages are not mandatory and are carried out at the request of the applicant.

At the end of the international phase, the applicant must take further action within the prescribed time limits at each national (or regional) office in which he wishes to obtain a patent based on his international application. The national phase includes submission by the applicant to these offices of translations of the application into the relevant languages, payment of the relevant duty and fees, and further consideration of the application by these offices.

In the national phase, the decision to issue (or refuse to issue) a patent is made exclusively by national or regional offices. The deadline for the transition to the national phase in most countries is 30 months from the date of application (or priority), which makes it possible to find investments for obtaining patents.