The Dangers of Provisional Patent Applications

o Establishes an international system which enables the filing, with a single patent Office (the "Receiving Office"), of a single application (the "International Application") in one language having effect in each of the countries which are party to the PCT which the applicant names ("designates") in his application;

o Provides for the formal examination of the International Application by a single patent Office, the Receiving Office;

o Provides for centralized international publication of International Applications with the related international search reports, as well as their communication to the designated Offices; and

(In PCT terminology, a reference to "national" Office, "national" phase and "national" fees, includes the reference to the procedure before a regional patent Office).

The first step is that the Receiving Office receives the International Application from the applicant. The second step is that the Receiving Office checks the International Application to determine whether it meets the prescribed requirements as to form and content of International Applications. i) The receiving Office shall accord as the international filing date the date of receipt of the international application, provided that that Office has found that in order in accordance with Article 11, at the time of receipt:

If the language of filing of the International Application is one acceptable by the Receiving Office but is not acceptable by the International Searching Authority that is to carry out the international search, the applicant is required to furnish, within one month from the filing date of the application, a translation into a language which is all of the following: (i) a language accepted by the International Searching Authority that is to carry out the international search; (ii) a language of publication; and (iii) a language accepted by the Receiving Office (unless the International Application is filed in a language of publication). Not all the requirements of the International Application are required to be examined by the Receiving Office. It also does not check all the many detailed physical requirements of the International Application.

The third step in the procedure before the Receiving Office is that it must transmit the "record copy" of the International Application to the International Bureau and the "search copy" to the International Searching Authority. The Receiving Office will then declare that national security provisions prevent the International Application from being treated as such.

(ii) The International Application should be in the language, or one of the languages, accepted by the Receiving Office for the purpose of filing International Applications (note, however, that the International Application is to be transmitted to the International Bureau as Receiving Office under Rule 19.4(a)(ii) if that condition is not fulfilled);

If all such defects are not properly corrected, the application will not be treated as an International Application.

If the applicant does not correct, the defect properly, the International Application will, however, be considered withdrawn by the Receiving Office.

(i) Monitoring the receipt of the confirmation of receipt of the International Application by the Receiving Office;

Each Receiving Office must, however, accept at least one language for the filing of International Applications which is both a language accepted by the International Searching Authority or, if applicable, by at least one International Searching Authority, competent for the international searching of International Applications filed with that Receiving Office and one of the languages of publication (that is, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish or Russian), so that applicants always have the option of filing the international search or international publication purposes; in other words, either words, either the International Application in its original language or the translation will be sufficient for the processing by the Receiving Office, for international search and for international publication.

If the language of filing of the International Application is the one acceptable by the Receiving Office but is not accepted by the International Searching Authority, the applicant is required to furnish, within one month from the date of receipt of the application, a translation into a language which is all of the following: (i) a language accepted by the International Searching Authority that is to carry out the international search; (ii) a language of publication; and (iii) a language accepted by the Receiving Office (unless the International Application is filed in a language of publication) (Rule 12.3).

If the language of filing of the International Application is accepted by the Receiving Office and the International Searching Authority but is not a language of publication (at present, this is the case only where the International Application is filed in Dutch and certain Nordic languages), the International Application will be published in English, the translation into that language being prepared under the responsibility of the International Searching Authority which undertakes the search (see Rule 48.3).

1) The national phase follows the international phase. This offsets, at least partly, the costs of filing an International Application.

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