Applying for patent protection for an invention abroad, the applicant may use three procedures:
The use by the notifier of one of the procedures does not preclude the use of others. The use of two or even three procedures simultaneously is used to quickly achieve effective and comprehensive protection. The national procedure consists of filing at the national patent offices in accordance with the formal requirements for the application, language and proxy documents. The principle of coercion rzeczniowskiego against an applicant from abroad requires the mediation of a patent attorney in each country. Regional procedure It is possible to apply on the basis of a single patent procedure in many countries at the same time provided that States are members of international agreements concerning the granting of exclusive rights. The regional patent offices of the agreement states have a national role by granting patents in the territory of the States in the agreement. The regional offices are:
- European Patent Organisation (EPO)
- African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI)
- African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)
- Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO).
The simplified scheme of the European patent application, after obtaining the European patent, becomes a bundle of independent national patents and has the same effect and is subject to the same provisions as the national patents granted in those countries. The European patent shall acquire legal effect subject to the submission of a translation of the patent description into the official languages of each of the designated States within a period of three months. The procedure for an international procedure is specified in a layout. On patent Cooperation (PCT) and consists of an international phase and a national phase. At the time of the international application, all 142 states (as of June 1, 2010) in the PCT system are automatically designated. At the time of entry into the national phase, the declarant shall decide what type of protection is sought, for example: whether it is to be a safety right for a utility model or a patent for invention. Simplified International Application Scheme (PCT)