How To Obtain A Patent

How To Obtain A Patent: internationally is possible, but not completely

Knowing how to obtain a patent for the maximum coverage on earth is a challenge that has never been accomplished yet. There is not one single treaty that has been made and agreed to by every nation of the world.

There is an organization that comes close and that is the World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO. This is an agency of the United Nations that was created in 1967 at the WIPO convention of that year. It has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. This organization has 184 member states. That currently represents over 90% of all the counties in the world.

There are 23 different treaties that the WIPO oversee as administrators. 13 are for intellectual protection, 6 are for global protection, and 4 for classification. Each one of these has to be approved by the member states before it has any power in that country.

Filing an application for a patent with the WIPO is just as simple as with the USPTO. If it is your goal to achieve as much protection around the world as possible, it is suggested that you get protection in the country of your residence first. This way, your application from that country can be used as a basis for the approval of your WIPO application.

Once the application is filed and approved by the WIPO, each member state will have to accept it for it to be covered in their respective country.

Not every treaty has been ratified by every member state, but most have. In the month of February alone, there were 5 ratifications including the Singapore Treaty by the Ukrainian government.

How to obtain a patent for worldwide protection starts with coverage in your country of residence first.