What is a Preliminary Amendment?

What is a Preliminary Amendment? A Preliminary Amendment is a submission filed prior to the issuance of an Office Action in a patent application. The purpose of the Preliminary Amendment is to revise any of the following: specification, abstract, drawings and/or claims. What circumstances warrant a Preliminary Amendment? In a typical US national stage application, […]

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Which countries are not PCT members?

Which countries are not members of the PCT? Since the PCT does not cover every country, applicants interested in foreign patent protection must keep in mind the non-extended 12-month deadline and individual filing requirement for the following non-PCT countries. As of the date of this post, the list of non-PCT countries include: For Hong Kong, filing a […]

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How much are flat fee estimates for PCT national phase entries?

National stage flat fee cost estimates A PCT application allows you to file your patent application in multiple countries. To do so, an applicant enters the national stage, or national phase, of each desired country by filing a copy of the PCT application. Filing these national stage applications can require a significant outlay of cash, […]

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What are the foreign filing deadlines for patent applications?

What are patent foreign filing deadlines? A foreign filing deadline refers to a specific date by which an applicant must file a foreign patent application to claim the benefit of an earlier domestic patent application. That benefit is called a priority claim. Different types of patent applications have different foreign filing deadlines. What is the […]

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