Skip to main content

How to Make International Filing Decisions

This article explains how to respond to the 12-month international filing decision and the later nationalization decision from a patent's detail page.

Written by Jonathan Liu
The International Filing Decision form showing the Outside Counsel field, the Filing Strategy checkboxes for 'File a PCT application' and 'File directly in individual countries', and the Send to Outside Counsel button

Prerequisites

  • The patent has an open International Filing Decision or Nationalization Decision task. ArcPrime creates these automatically from the filing date.

  • An outside counsel firm with at least one contact email is set on the patent. See Managing Outside Counsel.

Steps

Deciding at the 12-Month Deadline

  1. Open the patent from the patent list. The Next Task card shows the International Filing Decision task and its due date.

  2. Click Decide on International Filings. The International Filing Decision form opens.

  3. Confirm the Outside Counsel firm and select the Outside Counsel Recipients who should receive the instruction.

  4. Under Filing Strategy, choose one or both routes:

    • File a PCT application — Selected by default.

    • File directly in individual countries — Reveals the Direct Filing Jurisdictions field. Add each country you want to file in.

  5. Add any Instructions to Outside Counsel (optional).

  6. Click Send to Outside Counsel. ArcPrime emails the decision to the selected contacts and confirms that it was sent.

Deciding on Nationalization

  1. When the PCT application approaches its national phase deadline, the Next Task card shows the Nationalization Decision task.

  2. Click Decide on Nationalization. The Nationalization Decision form opens.

  3. Select the outside counsel recipients, list the Designated States, add instructions if needed, and click Send to Outside Counsel.

Choosing to File a PCT at Approval

When approving an invention disclosure, users with approval permission can tick File PCT under Selected Filing Jurisdictions. This records the intent on the new patent from the start. See How to Approve or Reject a Disclosure.

Note: ArcPrime sends reminder emails as the decision date approaches. Administrators can edit the decision and reminder email templates in Settings > Disclosures > Emails & Reminders.

Related Articles

Did this answer your question?