Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
Professional Training Seminars

The PCT Learning Center offers timely seminars and forums that deliver the tools necessary for patent professionals to skillfully use the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).  Expert trainers use state-of-the-art materials proven effective worldwide for educating patent professionals both new to the PCT, as well as those updating and enhancing their proficiency.  

Benefits to professionals who attend PCT training seminars include:

Patent Attorneys/Agents – Understand the PCT and know when it is right for your clients to enhance their patent portfolios internationally.

Patent Administrators/Paralegals –  Gain in-depth knowledge of the PCT to facilitate proper administration of the PCT process for your firm, corporation, or organization.

Independent Inventors – Learn the basics of the PCT, when to use it to your advantage, and how to file a PCT international application.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

The PCT is an international treaty, administered by the Geneva based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), with nearly 140 member countries. The PCT makes it possible to simultaneously seek patent protection for an invention in each of a large number of countries by filing a single “international” patent application (for example - at the USPTO) instead of filing several separate national or regional applications. The granting of patents remains under the control of the national or regional patent office.

The PCT is the system of choice by most applicants seeking patent protection in multiple countries. By giving applicants more time (30 months or more from the date of filing of the original priority application instead of 12 months in the “traditional” system) and information (a thorough search report and written opinion/examination report on the major criteria for patentability prepared by a major patent office) at a reasonable cost, applicants can better decide to pursue patents internationally. Last year there were more than 158,000 PCT international applications filed worldwide of which over 53,000 came from US applicants. This number continues to grow annually.