The PCT enables the nationals or residents of the states members to the PCT to obtain patent protection for their inventions simultaneously in each of a large number of countries by filing an "international" patent application. Generally speaking, the application can be filed either with the national patent office of the contracting State of which the applicant is a national or resident or, at the applicant's option, with the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva. If the applicant is a national or resident of a member state which is party to the European Patent Convention, the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs or the Eurasian Patent Convention, the international application may also be filed with the EPO, the ARIPO or the EAPO, respectively.
The Treaty regulates the formal requirements with which any international application must comply.
The applicant designates those states which he wishes his international application to cover. The effect of the international application in each designated state is the same as though that patent application was filed in that state.
The international application is then subjected to an "international search" carried out by any one of the International Searching Patent Offices.. The search results are made known through an "international search report", which provides a listing of the citations of published documents that might affect the patentability of the invention claimed in the international application.
The international search report is communicated to the applicant who may decide either to continue with or to withdraw his application. If the applicant decides to continue with the international application, the International Bureau of WIPO publishes and communicates it to each designated office. If the applicant decides to continue with a view to obtaining national or regional patent, he has 20 months, from the filing of the international application or filing of the earlier application, to commence the national / regional phase before each designated office. This 20-month period is extended by a further 10 months where the applicant chooses to have an "international preliminary examination report".
The Arab countries which are member to the PCT are Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.