Patent Cooperation Treaty (International Application)
The PCT domain tests the international phase and the entry into the Philippine national phase. The exam wants dates, roles and consequences of missed deadlines, not a general description of the treaty.
Roles
IPOPHL is a receiving Office (RO/PH) for Philippine applicants and a designated or elected Office for international applications that name the Philippines. It is not the international searching authority; the search and written opinion come from an ISA available to applicants filing through RO/PH. The PCT creates no international patent: grant is always national.
Timeline, counted from the priority date
Twelve months to file the international application claiming priority; 16 months for the ISA to issue the search report and written opinion; 18 months for international publication; 22 months to file a Chapter II demand for preliminary examination; 28 months for the Chapter II preliminary report; and 30 months to enter the Philippine national phase, or 31 months where Chapter II is used.
National phase
The international filing date becomes the Philippine filing date and the priority claim survives. The applicant pays the national fee, files an English translation where the application was not in English, and requests examination; the application is then examined under Philippine law.
Worked example
An applicant files an international application on 10 March 2024 claiming priority from a Philippine application filed 15 March 2023. The 30-month deadline is 15 September 2025, measured from the priority date, not from the international filing date and not from publication.
Traps
Counting from the wrong date; assuming the international publication is a granted patent; treating a favourable ISA opinion as binding on IPOPHL; missing the 30/31 month entry, which forfeits the Philippine application; forgetting translation and fee requirements at entry.