The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): Its Advantages and Implications for Economic Development in Contracting States

Abstract

As a result of the inability of the Paris Union Agreement for Industrial Property to cover the procedural aspect of the patent system, international efforts have tended towards proposing a new international system for inventions embodied in the Washington Treaty on patent Cooperation of 1970. This treaty includes several advantages, which the most important is that it simplified the procedures for the international protection of the invention by stipulating a central system for filing and examining international patent applications. It also brings other benefits to the member states, especially developing ones, by receiving technical services that support their development and enhance their economic growth.