A PCT application is international-style application that keeps your patent rights alive in more than 150 countries. Applicants often file it within twelve months of their provisional, and it defers the decision about which countries to pursue until 30 to 31 months from the priority date.
A PCT application buys you 18 extra months and an independent search report. It does not give you a patent, and there's no such thing as an international patent.
PCT (international) patent applications
“I worked with Warren on my PCT patent application and was impressed by his pragmatic approach. He simplified what could have been a complex process, communicated clearly, and kept everything moving efficiently. I felt confident throughout and would recommend them to anyone needing reliable patent support. 1st class service.”
- Nick Brazil
Written by Warren Wong
Registered Australian and New Zealand Patent Attorney and Trade Marks Attorney.
Do you need one?
Direct filing can be more cost-effective when the country list is short and settled, whereas the PCT route can help if you want to defer the country selection stage.
| File a PCT if | File directly instead if |
|---|---|
| You want to keep your options open for longer | You know precisely the countries you want to file in |
| You don't yet know which markets you'll commercialise in | A market you need isn't a PCT member |
| You want an independent read on patentability before spending heavily | You need granted rights quickly, e.g. someone is already copying you |
| You're raising capital and a favourable search report would help | Your budget is limited |
The deadline
Twelve months from your earliest priority date.
For most Australian applicants that means twelve months from the filing date of their first provisional patent application.
What happens, and when
| Milestone | From priority date |
|---|---|
| PCT application filed | 12 months |
| International search report and written opinion | Around 16 months |
| International publication | 18 months |
| Optional international preliminary examination | 22 months |
| National phase entry | 30 or 31 months, depending on the country |
Don’t undervalue the search report
Every PCT application gets searched, and you receive a written opinion on whether your claimed invention looks novel and inventive.
That's worth more than it sounds:
It's an early, independent read on your prospects before you commit to multiple countries. If the news is bad, finding out early can save you a great deal.
It surfaces the prior art you'll likely face in every national examination, so you have an idea of potential objections and the maximum scope of your potential patent protection.
You can respond to it, and your response can shape how national examiners approach the case.
Investors are often interested in it. A favourable written opinion is far more persuasive in a funding round than the bare fact that something is pending.
What the PCT doesn’t do
No patent office grants a patent on a PCT application. You can't enforce it. It doesn't cover you in any country by itself.
What it does is hold your place. At 30 to 31 months you enter the national phase in each country you want, and from that point each application is examined separately, under its own law, usually through a local attorney.
The PCT filing simply defers the expensive exercise of filing in each country of interest.
Countries the PCT doesn't cover
Taiwan and Argentina are the ones that come up most often for Australian clients. If a non-member country matters to you, it needs a direct application within the twelve-month convention deadline, in parallel with your PCT filing.
To be safe, always check PCT membership for any country you're interested in well before the 12-month filing deadline.
Thankfully, most commercially significant markets are PCT members, including:
the United States
the European Patent Office states
the United Kingdom
China
Japan
Korea
Canada
India
New Zealand
Australia
Then what?
At 30 to 31 months you choose your countries and file standard patent applications in each. Costs step up sharply, because each country brings its own official fees, local attorney fees, and often translations.
This decision can drive the lifetime cost of your patent family more than anything else. My advice is consistently the same: protect the markets where you'll manufacture, sell or license, and where you could realistically afford to enforce a patent if you had to.
Defensive filings in countries you'll never police are the most common way money gets wasted in this process.
Questions I get asked
Is there such a thing as an international patent?
No. There's no patent that covers the world. A PCT application is an international application, not an international patent. Patents are granted country by country under each country's own law.
How much does a PCT application cost?
At the time of writing, official fees alone start from about AU$4,500, and this doesn’t include professional fees. A PCT application typically costs more than a provisional, but is considerably less than the total cost of filing separately in multiple countries at once.
Can a PCT application be my first filing?
Yes. Its filing date then becomes your priority date. Most Australian applicants file a provisional first because it's cheaper and buys an extra twelve months, but going straight to PCT can sometimes be right under certain circumstances.
When is the Australian national phase deadline?
31 months from the earliest priority date. Australia is one of the countries offering 31 months rather than 30.
Does a PCT application publish my invention?
Yes, at eighteen months from the priority date. From then on your specification is public. It's one reason the confidentiality of the provisional year is worth using well.
Is your provisional nearly up?
This is the decision in front of you, and it's easier with someone who's made it a few hundred times. Book a complimentary call and we'll work through which countries realistically matter and what each route costs.