What is a patent?
How can a patent be obtained worldwide?
What is the Patent Cooperation Treaty?
What is the European Patent Convention?
What is the London Agreement?

What is a patent?
A patent provides its owner with the exclusive right to exclude others from making, using or selling or even offering for sale the patented invention for a term of years, usually 20 from the patent application filing date.

National laws, including those enacting or giving effect to international treaties and agreements, govern the grant of patent protection. As a result, patents like trademarks and designs, are territorial in nature.

How can a patent be obtained worldwide?
Taken from http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/
patents_faq.html#worldwide_patent
“At present, no “world patents” or “international patents” exist. In general, an application for a patent must be filed, and a patent shall be granted and enforced, in each country in which you seek patent protection for your invention, in accordance with the law of that country. In some regions, a regional patent office, for example, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), accepts regional patent applications, or grants patents, which have the same effect as applications filed, or patents granted, in the member States of that region.”
“Further, any resident or national of a Contracting State of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) may file an international application under the PCT. A single international patent application has the same effect as national applications filed in each designated Contracting State of the PCT. However, under the PCT system, in order to obtain patent protection in the designated States, a patent shall be granted by each designated State to the claimed invention contained in the international application.”
“Procedural and substantive requirements for the grant of patents as well as the amount of fees required are different from one country/region to the other. It is therefore recommend that you consult a practicing lawyer who is specialized in intellectual property or the intellectual property offices of those countries in which you are interested to get protection.”

What is the Patent Cooperation Treaty?
Taken from http://www.patentsoffice.ie/en/patents_treaty.aspx
“The Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) was established in 1970. It is administered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. “

“The main objective of the Treaty is the streamlining of patent application filing and novelty search procedures for applicants wishing to obtain patent protection in a wide number of countries around the world.”

“The PCT provides a system whereby a single international application allows for the designation of some or all the contracting countries. The relevant national patent authority is normally the granter of a patent pursuant to an application filed under the treaty.”

What is the European Patent Convention?
The European Patent Convention allows a single patent application to be filed in one of three official languages (English, German, or French). Under the EPC the European Patent Office provides a centralized procedure for examination, oppositions and appeals.

The application may designate a number of states that are contracted to the EPC, and may be extended to cover certain ‘Extension States’. In another effort to reduce the cost of European patents, the London Agreement was concluded in 2000.

What is the London Agreement?
The London Agreement is the result of work related to reducing the cost of obtaining European patents. The Parties to the Agreement undertake to waive, to a large extent or entirely, the requirement for translations of European patents to be filed in their national language.

Why is the London Agreement important?
The Agreement is important because translations of patent specifications into the national languages of each country where patent protection is sought, often comprises a large part of the cost related to patent application filing.