A Decision Guide For Filing International Patent Applications For Multiple Inventions

Companies have two choices for meeting the PCT patent application filing requirements when they have multiple pending provisional applications. We go through the pros and cons for each approach.

A company engaged in research and development will often create multiple related inventions within a year, and file a separate provisional application for each invention within that year. To obtain patent protection internationally for those inventions, the company must then file a PCT application for each invention within one year of the provisional application filing. The company has a choice to (a) file one PCT application that describes all of the inventions within one year of the earliest provisional application, or (b) file a separate PCT application for each invention within one year of each provisional application. There are advantages and disadvantages for each approach.