A PCT application into national phase has to be filed in the designated states within 30 months from the priority date. However in India it is 31 months. A PCT application must be drafted in a manner as prescribed by the rules and regulations governing patent law in different countries. A PCT application must contain the following requisites namely the title of the invention, Method of invention, Background of invention, description of drawings (if any), claims, figures(if any) and abstract. The patent application must be filed after consulting a patent agent or attorney skilled and experienced in this regard. The various forms to be submitted along with a PCT application are Form 1(application for grant of patent), Form 2(provisional/complete specification), Form 3(statement and undertaking) and Form 5(Declaration as to inventorship). These forms should contain each and every detail concerning the patent application in question. A PCT application may also be accompanied with a copy of WIPO publication, a copy of international search report, copy of written opinion of the international searching authority (PCT/ISA/237), copy of notification of the transmittal of the international search report and the written opinion of the international searching authority, or the declaration (PCT/ISA/220) and various other documents pertaining to the same, although it is not compulsory to submit these documents at the time of filing. The statutory fees of a PCT application is determined on the basis of number of claims(more than ten), number of priorities and number of pages(more than thirty). If none of the aforesaid requisites is available to determine the statutory fees of the captioned application than the fixed statutory fees of Rs four thousand shall be charged by the patent office.
