Almost exactly 40 years ago, on January 24, 1978, the International Patent Cooperation Treaty came into force. It regulates the procedure for filing an international Patent Application and is known today by the abbreviation PCT. Over the course of time, it has risen from an initial low number of applications to an importance that nobody would have thought possible.

As early as the middle of the 19th century, the increasingly international industry felt the need to internationalize patent protection. However, the negotiations showed that the interests were too diverse for a global patent to be created.

After all, a common denominator was found in priority law and in a few basic principles of Trademarks, Patents and design rights. This resulted in the Paris Convention of March 20, 1883 (Paris Convention), which is still one of the most important international treaties today.

In 1966, work began on an international patent system. However, this did not lead to a world patent either, but only to a temporary, centralized application procedure. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was signed on June 19, 1970 and came into force for 18 countries on January 24, 1978 – 40 years ago.

The original skepticism about the benefits of this treaty was expressed in minimal application numbers of a few hundred per year. Today, this skepticism has disappeared: In 2017, more than 230,000 PCT applications were filed and the number of member countries is 152.

What is the PCT and what makes it attractive? Read our new issue of grips®.

Read our grips 2018/01