PCT Article 3 — The International Application
Ninth Edition, Revision 01.2024
- (1) Applications for the protection of inventions in any of the Contracting States may be filed as international applications under this Treaty.
- (2) An international application shall contain, as specified in this Treaty and the Regulations, a request, a description, one or more claims, one or more drawings (where required), and an abstract.
- (3) The abstract merely serves the purpose of technical information and cannot be taken into account for any other purpose, particularly not for the purpose of interpreting the scope of the protection sought.
- (4) The international application shall:
- (i) be in a prescribed language;
- (ii) comply with the prescribed physical requirements;
- (iii) comply with the prescribed requirement of unity of invention;
- (iv) be subject to the payment of the prescribed fees.
Cited by
- 1810 Filing Date Requirements
- 1812 Elements of the International Application
- 1836 Rectification of Obvious Mistakes
- 1850 Unity of Invention Before the International Searching Authority
- 37 CFR 1.431 International application requirements
- 37 CFR 1.431 (pre-AIA) International application requirements
- PCT Article 14 Certain Defects in the International Application
- PCT Rule 27 Lack of Payment of Fees
- PCT Rule 91 Rectification of Obvious Mistakes in the International Application and Other Documents
- PCT AI Section 706 Documents in Pre-Conversion Format