The Patent Cooperation Treaty, also called PCT for its name in English Patent Cooperation Treaty, is a multilateral agreement which is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, since 1978.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty, PCT, regulates, as its name indicates, international cooperation in the field of patents and through this agreement a faster and more efficient procedure is established, which makes it easier for patent inventors to different member countries the processing of applications when the protection is intended to be extended to several territories simultaneously.
The procedure for registering a Patent using the PCT consists of two stages, an INTERNATIONAL PHASE, which begins with the presentation of the "international" application before the Receiving Office, then at the International Office (WIPO) and the Administration of International Searches (ISA), in this phase the same filing date is granted at the international level, the same examination of formalities, international search, international publication, as well as the international preliminary examination. After that, a NATIONAL or REGIONAL PHASE must be continued, which must be carried out in each of the offices of the countries chosen for the protection of the patent, 30 months after the priority or filing date of the application. patent.
According to data provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, for the year 2015 the number of international applications filed using the Patent Cooperation Treaty, PCT, was 218,000, which is equivalent to 1,7%. more compared to 2014, with the most used technology fields being the following: Information Technology (8,2%), Digital Communication (8%), Machines, Electronic Devices and Electric Power (7,3%), Medical Technology ( 6,3%) and Transportation (4,3%)[1].
Also the top 10 PCT applicants have been[2]:
- Huawei Technologies (3,898)
- Qualcomm (2,442)
- ZTE (2,155)
- Samsung Electronics (1,683)
- Mitsubishi Electric (1,593)
- Ericsson (1,481)
- LG Electronics (1,457)
- Sony (1,381)
- Phillips Electronics (1,378)
- Hewlett Packard (1,310)[3]
[1] Percentage in relation to the total
[2] Number of applications published
[3] http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/ipstats/es/docs/infographics_pct_2015.pdf