A PCT application does not grant a patent, and no worldwide patent exists. It is a filing mechanism that holds your priority date and buys decision time. You file within 12 months of a first filing, get a search opinion around 16 months, and enter the national phase by about 30 to 31 months, where examination happens.
Key takeaways
- PCT fixes your priority date through an earlier home filing; it is not a granted patent.
- File the international application within 12 months of the first filing to claim priority.
- An international search report and written opinion arrive around 16 months; optional preliminary examination can follow.
- National or regional phase entry is generally due by 30 to 31 months.
- Each office examines under its own law, and each grant stands on its own.
What does a PCT application actually do?
A PCT application is a single international filing, made in one language, that preserves your option to seek patents in many countries later from one early date. It does not create an enforceable patent anywhere on its own, and there is no such thing as a granted "worldwide patent." Its value is optionality: it lets you defer the expensive decisions about which countries to enter, and how much to spend on translations and local agents, while you test the market.
In practice, it buys you roughly two and a half years of decision time from your earliest filing. For a first-time filer who is not yet sure where revenue will come from, that delay is the whole point. The mechanics and the routes we support are outlined on our PCT filing page.
What are the deadlines on a PCT timeline?
The clock starts at your first, or priority, filing, often a home-country application. The main milestones run as follows:
- Month 0: file the first (priority) application that fixes your date.
- By month 12: file the international PCT application claiming that priority.
- Around month 16: receive the international search report and written opinion.
- Optional: request international preliminary examination to sharpen the outlook.
- By month 30 to 31: enter the national or regional phase in each country you choose.
Each date is a hard limit, not a suggestion. Missing the 12-month filing forfeits priority; missing a 30 to 31 month phase entry can forfeit that country entirely, so diary them against the earliest priority date rather than the PCT filing date.
What happens at national phase entry?
At phase entry the PCT's common treatment ends and each national or regional office takes over, examining your application under its own law. Some offices accept the search results with little further work; others conduct their own examination and raise their own objections. A rejection in one country does not automatically harm your filings in others, and a grant in one does not guarantee a grant elsewhere.
This is where costs become country-specific: translation and local agent fees apply in each jurisdiction you enter, which is exactly the expense the PCT delayed rather than removed. Choose your phase-entry countries by revenue and enforceability, not by habit.
What does PCT not do?
It is worth being precise, because first-time filers often misread the acronym. A PCT application never becomes a granted patent, and the international search report does not bind any national examiner. It also gives you no right to stop a third party during the international phase; enforcement still waits for an actual granted patent in a given country.
PCT is also the wrong tool for product appearance. It is used for inventions and, in some systems, utility models. Designs follow a different route entirely, using the six-month design priority window into each design system, as covered on our US design filing and EU design pages. Do not run a design strategy through a patent mechanism.
How should a first-time filer plan around these dates?
Treat the search report and written opinion around month 16 as your first real checkpoint. If the prior art looks hostile, you can narrow claims or prune the country list before phase-entry costs hit. If it looks favorable, you confirm the markets you planned to enter and spend with more confidence.
Because PCT only defers the first filing, everything still depends on locking an early, clean priority date. A prior-art search precedes every filing we make, and once documents and payment are confirmed the filing goes in within 48 hours, so your month-0 date is protected. Our services page shows how the PCT fits the wider portfolio.
Frequently asked questions
Does a PCT application grant a worldwide patent?
No. There is no single worldwide patent. A PCT application is a filing procedure that preserves your priority date and buys time, then splits into separate national or regional applications. Each office examines and grants independently under its own law, so your final rights are a bundle of individual patents, not one global grant.
Can I use the PCT to protect a product design?
No. The PCT is a mechanism for inventions and, depending on the system, utility models, not for designs. Product appearance is protected through design systems using a separate six-month priority window from the first design filing. Confusing the two can waste a year, so route designs through the design priority path instead.
What if I miss a 30 to 31 month phase-entry deadline?
Missing it can mean losing that country's phase entry altogether. Some offices offer limited reinstatement or further-processing options under strict conditions, but you should never plan around them, because they are discretionary and time-limited. Treat each phase-entry date as final and work backwards from the earliest priority date when you set reminders.
How do I decide which countries to enter at phase?
Rank them by where you sell, where your products are most likely to be made or copied, and where a granted right is actually enforceable. Use the month-16 written opinion to prune weak candidates before costs arrive, and add markets in later rounds only when revenue justifies the translation and agent fees. Share your sales map through the contact page to plan the entry list.