The national patent system requires the filing of individual patent applications for each country for which patent protection is sought. Under the traditional Paris Convention route, the priority of an earlier application can be claimed for applications filed in foreign countries, but such subsequent applications must be filed within 12 months from the filing date of the earlier application. This implies for the applicant the preparation and filing of patent applications for all the countries in which he seeks protection for his invention within one year from the filing of the first application. The filing of patent applications under the national system means that each Patent Office in which an application is filed must carry out a formal examination of each application filed with it. When Patent Offices inspect patent applications for substance, each Office must conduct a search to decide the prior art in the technical field of the invention and must conduct a patentability examination.
In order to prevail over some of the problems presented by the national system, in September 1966 the Executive Committee of the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property invited BIRPI to urgently undertake a study of solutions to reduce the duplication of efforts for both applicants as well as National Patent Offices. In subsequent years, various BIRPI meetings prepared drafts in conjunction with a Diplomatic Conference held in Washington. In June 1970, a treaty called the Patent Cooperation Treaty was passed. The Patent Cooperation Treaty entered into force on January 24, 1978 and entered into force on June 1, 1978 with 18 initial Contracting States. The growth of the Patent Cooperation Treaty demonstrates the certainty that developing countries and developed countries will become party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty in the coming years and that its use. Statistical indications of this achievement can be found in the corresponding document on the back cover of this volume.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty is a global cooperation agreement in the field of patents. It is often referred to as the most important advance in international cooperation in this field since the adoption of the Paris Convention itself. However, it is primarily a rationalization and cooperation treaty with respect to the filing, search and examination of patent applications and the dissemination of the technical information contained therein. The Patent Cooperation Treaty does not provide for the grantor of international patents. The task and responsibility for the granting of patents remains completely in the hands of the Patent Offices.