Background The Patent Co-operation Treaty
9.Alongside the EPC, the 1977 Act also recognises the Patent Co-operation Treaty (“PCT”), an international treaty agreed in 1970. The most recent Regulations under the PCT came into force on 1st January 2004. The PCT, which currently has 123 contracting states, provides a streamlined procedure by which patents in many countries may be acquired by filing a single patent application at one of a number of selected patent offices. The Act makes some minor changes to the 1977 Act in order to clarify the relationship between domestic patent law and the PCT, and to implement a change resulting from the most recent Regulations under the PCT.