Patent Law Treaty

Patent Law Treaty (PLT)

Adopted in 2000, the PLT aims to harmonise and simplify the formal procedures for patent applications, making the process more user-friendly and consistent across national and regional patent offices. The treaty sets out the maximum requirements that Contracting Parties’ offices may impose, with the notable exception of filing date requirements. 
This allows Contracting Parties the flexibility to adopt more applicant-friendly rules if they choose, but they cannot demand more than the maximum requirements established by the PLT from applicants or patent owners.

The PLT focuses on making the day-to-day interactions with patent offices more user-friendly and consistent across member states. It does not deal with substantive patent law (like what constitutes a patentable invention, novelty, or inventive step) but rather with the formalities.

Contracting Parties:

Albania - Antigua and Barbuda - Armenia - Australia - Bahrain - Belarus - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Canada - Croatia - Cyprus - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Georgia - Germany - Hungary - Ireland - Italy - Japan - Kazakhstan - Latvia - Liechtenstein - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malta - Mexico - Moldova - Montenegro - Netherlands - North Macedonia - Norway - Poland - Romania - Russia - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - United Kingdom - United States