What is the effect of international publication on patent rights?
The international publication of a PCT application has several important effects on patent rights:
- It establishes provisional protection in designated States, similar to the effect of national publication of a national application.
- In the United States, it confers the right to reasonable royalty protection under 35 U.S.C. 154(d).
- The published application can serve as prior art as of its international filing date for novelty and inventive step considerations.
As stated in MPEP 1857: “The international publication of a PCT application designating the United States has the same effect as publication of a United States application under 35 U.S.C. 122(b).”
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