The origins of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
The Patent Cooperation Treaty was instigated between May 25 to June 19, 1970. The PCT was signed in Washington, DC at the end of the conference on June 19, 1970.
The treaty was enforced on January 24, 1978, initially, there were 18 states going into the treaty and the first international application was filed on June 1st, 1978.
The treaty was subsequently amended in 1979 and later modified in 1984 and 20001.
A majority of all the industrial counties belong to the Patent Cooperation Treaty with the exceptions of Argentina and Taiwan. As of September 28, 2009, there was 142 contracting states in the PCT. Thailand became the 142nd contracting state on September 24, 2009.
