13 The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) makes it possible to seek patent protection for an inventionsimultaneously in each of a large number of countries by filing an “international” patent application. Which of the following is not the advantage of the procedure under the PCT for applicants, patent offices and the general public?
(A) Applicants have up to 12 months if they had not used the PCT to reflect on the desirability of seeking protection in foreign countries, appoint local patent agents in each foreign country, prepare the necessary translations and pay national fees.
(B) Applicants can rest assured that, if their international application is in the form prescribed by the PCT, it cannot be rejected on formal grounds by any designated office during the national phase.
(C) The search and examination work of patent offices can be considerably reduced or eliminated thanks to the international search report, the written opinion and, where applicable, the international preliminary report on patentability which are communicated to designated offices together with the international application.
(D) Since each international application is published with an international search report, third parties are in a better position to formulate a well-founded opinion about the potential patentability of the claimed invention.