Typical patent timelines - the international decision - Patent Guide - Flipbook - Page 9

Typical patent timelines - the international decision

At 18 months from the priority date, the GB and PCT applications are then published by the
UKIPO and World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), respectively. Around this time, the PCT
application is also reviewed and an international search report & written opinion (ISR WO)
issued. The ISR WO provides the applicant with a further indication of patentability from a
different patent office (for UK-based applicants, this is the European Patent Office (EPO)).
At 30 months from the priority date (or 31 months for some territories), the applicant must
then decide whether and where to proceed with foreign applications. This decision may be
influenced by the ISR WO as well as the geographical locations of the applicant and their
customers, business partners, licensees and/or competitors. At this stage, the international
phase of the PCT ends and the national/regional phase begins. Once the chosen foreign
applications have been filed, they are independently examined by the respective patent
offices in parallel. Depending on the nature and number of objections raised, it can take
several years for the foreign applications to be granted (but the process can be accelerated
in some territories if desired).
It is also worth noting that European patent applications (which currently cover 40 or
more countries during pendency) need to be nationally processed (

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