The main purpose of the PCT patent search is to discover relevant prior art, "Prior art" consists of everything which is essential to the public anywhere in the world by means of written disclosure. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the authorized international searching authority carried out the search) to find the most relevant prior art documents regarding the claimed subject matter.
International Search Report (ISR)-search by Patent Cooperation Treaty
The search results in an International Search Report (ISR), together with a written opinion regarding patentability. Patentability search includes both patent and non-patent literatures. The international searching authority provides the search report indifferent categories such as document with X categories which is a kind of documents with respect to which there can be novelty issue. In addition, it also provides all those patents and non-patent literatures which is close to the present invention but priority is later than the present application in concern.
The international search report can help the applicant to decide on its patent strategy such as it would be worthwhile to file at national phase level or not. If worthwhile then in how many countries since it cost fees and other expenses, including costs of translation, to enter search report is that many national patent authorities will rely on the international search report instead of starting from scratch to search the prior art themselves, and the applicant may be able to save in search fees.
In addition to the compulsory international search report, one or more optional supplementary international searches may also be carried out by participating International Searching Authorities, upon request by the applicant and payment of corresponding fees. The purpose is to reduce the likelihood of seeing new prior art being cited in the subsequent national phases. A supplementary international search is said to allow applicants to obtain an additional search report "taking into account the growing linguistic diversity of the prior art being found.
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