The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international treaty that makes it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in a large number of countries by filing a single patent application. The international patent application is filed with a receiving office in a national or regional patent office, which then sends the application to the International Bureau of WIPO. It is also possible to file the application with the International Bureau directly. Applicants may choose to file in a national patent office up to one year before filing the international application. In that case, the national patent filing date is the priority date.
