The PCT: International Search and Publication, Articles 15 to 21

In one line

Every international application is searched by a major patent office, the applicant gets a report and an opinion on patentability that binds nobody, and the application is published at eighteen months from priority.

In exam wording: Articles 15 to 21 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty provide for the international search of every international application by an International Searching Authority, for the international search report and the written opinion, for the applicant's right to amend the claims once before the International Bureau, for communication to designated Offices, and for international publication promptly after the expiration of eighteen months from the priority date.

Article 15: the search

Article 15(1): each international application shall be the subject of international search.

Article 15(2): the objective of the international search is to discover relevant prior art.

Article 15(3): international search shall be made on the basis of the claims, with due regard to the description and the drawings.

Article 15(4): the International Searching Authority shall endeavour to discover as much of the relevant prior art as its facilities permit, and shall in any case consult the documentation specified in the Regulations.

Article 15(5) is the international type search, a service by which the national Office of a contracting State may, on request, carry out a search of a national application, and a contracting State may permit or require it.

Articles 16 and 17: the Authority and its procedure

Article 16(1): international search shall be carried out by an International Searching Authority, which may be either a national Office or an intergovernmental organisation, such as the International Patent Institute, whose tasks include the establishing of documentary search reports on prior art with respect to inventions which are the subject of applications.

Article 16(3): the Assembly appoints Authorities, and the appointment is conditional on the Authority concluding an agreement with the International Bureau, subject to approval by the Assembly, setting out the rights and obligations, in particular the formal undertaking to apply and observe all the common rules of international search.

The Indian Patent Office was appointed an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examining Authority with effect from 2013, which is a fact worth knowing, and it means an Indian applicant may have its search done in India.

Article 17(1): the procedure before the International Searching Authority is governed by this Treaty, the Regulations, and the agreement.

Article 17(2)(a) is the declaration of no search. If the Authority considers that the international application relates to subject matter which it is not required to search under the Regulations and decides not to search, or that the description, the claims or the drawings fail to comply with the prescribed requirements to such an extent that a meaningful search could not be carried out, it shall so declare and shall notify the applicant and the International Bureau that no international search report will be established.