You're saying that you can extend your U.S. filing date [EDIT: what I mean here by "U.S. filing date" is the deadline for filing the actual U.S. patent applicat

You're saying that you can extend your U.S. filing date [EDIT: what I mean here by "U.S. filing date" is the deadline for filing the actual U.S. patent application] by filing a (essentially international provisional application) PCT? That doesn't sound correct, based on this: http://robertplattbell.blogspot.com/2007/10/foreign-filing-is-it-worth-it.html http://robertplattbell.blogspot.com/2007/10/foreign-filing-i... [EDIT] I stand corrected. Apparently, there is an international (PCT) route to U.S. patents. http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/pct_strategies/the_third_way.pdf http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/pct_strategies/the_third_way.pdf [PDF] the “international route” of the PCT to U.S. patent issuance. [...] THIRD WAY IS BEST WAY This Third Way of using the PCT as a matter of domestic U.S. patenting strategy gains many advantages for the applicant to control the timing of search and examination of the U.S. application, if one begins with a Provisional Patent Application.