OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp (OWCP)

[bybtrader]

Let me explain this provisional patent story once again for everyone. First please go the WIPO's presentation below and look at pages 8 through 10.

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/africa/en/wipo_pat_hre_15/wipo_pat_hre_15_t_8_b.pdf

For a company to be able to apply for international patent by PCT, they first need to have a local application and then an international application can only be filed within 12 months. This is exactly what OWCP did. They made provisional applications with USPTO for all 8 patents and before the 12 month period was over, they filed with PCT to protect inventions internationally. And since they did not need to file a non-provisional patent with USPTO anymore, their USPTO provisional applications expired but who cares when you are covered internationally! Plus USPTO is NOT an international database, so it will only show applications filed in the US.

OWCP's smart move saved them lots of money and time because filing for non-provisional patent in US is expensive and and takes long. By converting US provisional patents to WIPO-PCT international patents, they saved a bunch of money while protection inventions across 148 countries.

So after all this information, I will admit that OWCP's inventions are not protected in Bhutan & Dijbouti, if you know where those countries are. If you wanna sell because of this, please do, LOL!!!