The Patent Law Treaty
The Patent Law Treaty was adopted on June 1, 2000 at a Diplomatic Conference in Geneva.
The idea of the Patent Law Treaty is to harmonize and streamline strict procedures in respect of national and regional patent applications as well as patents.
With a noteworthy exception for the filing date requirements, the Patent Law Treaty provides maximum sets of prerequisites which the Office of a Contracting Party may apply.
The Office may not lay down any supplementary official requirements in respect of matters dealt with by this Treaty.
Any State which is party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or which is a member of WIPO may become party to the Patent Law Treaty.
Any intergovernmental organization may become party to the Treaty if three conditions are fulfilled.
The Treaty applies to national and regional applications that are applications for patents for invention, applications for patents of addition and divisional applications for patents for invention or for patents of addition.
The Patent Law Treaty also applies to international applications for patents for invention as well as for patents of addition filed under the Patent Law Treaty once the international applications have entered into the national phase.
It also applies to the time limits for the entry of international applications into the national phase under The Patent Law Treaty Articles 22 and 39.
The grant of a filing date is indispensable to deciding who has priority for the award of a patent in each country as well as to determining previous art and the patentability of the invention.
It is also pertinent to claiming a right of priority under the Paris Convention as well as to the calculation of the term of patent protection.
The Treaty sets up prerequisites for obtaining a filing date and procedures to avoid loss of the filing date because of a failure to fulfill with other formality requirements.
The Office of any Contracting Party shall accord a filing date to an application on the basis of three elements.
Article 5 also provides for the rules to institute a filing date where a part of the description or drawing is missing from the primarily filed application or where the descriptions and drawings are replaced by a reference to an additional application.
The Treaty creates a sole worldwide standardized set of official requirements for national as well as regional applications.
The Treaty provides procedures for the avoidance of accidental loss of rights as a result of failure to obey with formality requirements.
The idea of the Patent Law Treaty is to harmonize and streamline strict procedures in respect of national and regional patent applications as well as patents.
With a noteworthy exception for the filing date requirements, the Patent Law Treaty provides maximum sets of prerequisites which the Office of a Contracting Party may apply.
The Office may not lay down any supplementary official requirements in respect of matters dealt with by this Treaty.
Any State which is party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or which is a member of WIPO may become party to the Patent Law Treaty.
Any intergovernmental organization may become party to the Treaty if three conditions are fulfilled.
The Treaty applies to national and regional applications that are applications for patents for invention, applications for patents of addition and divisional applications for patents for invention or for patents of addition.
The Patent Law Treaty also applies to international applications for patents for invention as well as for patents of addition filed under the Patent Law Treaty once the international applications have entered into the national phase.
It also applies to the time limits for the entry of international applications into the national phase under The Patent Law Treaty Articles 22 and 39.
The grant of a filing date is indispensable to deciding who has priority for the award of a patent in each country as well as to determining previous art and the patentability of the invention.
It is also pertinent to claiming a right of priority under the Paris Convention as well as to the calculation of the term of patent protection.
The Treaty sets up prerequisites for obtaining a filing date and procedures to avoid loss of the filing date because of a failure to fulfill with other formality requirements.
The Office of any Contracting Party shall accord a filing date to an application on the basis of three elements.
Article 5 also provides for the rules to institute a filing date where a part of the description or drawing is missing from the primarily filed application or where the descriptions and drawings are replaced by a reference to an additional application.
The Treaty creates a sole worldwide standardized set of official requirements for national as well as regional applications.
The Treaty provides procedures for the avoidance of accidental loss of rights as a result of failure to obey with formality requirements.
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