Is PCT filing worth it for product startups?

Hi,

We are debating the pros and cons of filing a PCT patent application for a new kind of shoes. At an early stage, filing a PCT application is costly and if this is not going to be beneficial, then we would be wasting a significant amount of money that we could rather spend in other areas.

If you have had such a dilemma, and have decided to go one or the other way, we highly appreciate your opinion in whether a PCT is worth it or not.

Appreciate your time. Thanks.

1 comment

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matt_the_bass 8y ago ↗

Filing a pct is not that expensive and buys you 18 months to decide if you want to file national patents. You can even file a pact yourself.

A few thoughts: 1. if you can’t afford to file a patent you probably can’t afford to litigate a possible infringer. 2. In the above case does having a patent help sales from the marketing point of view? If no, why bother with one. If yes, then you may want to just file a us patent.

Ianal