From National To International: How To Exploit The Right To Patent Priority

After filing a national patent application, it may be desirable to seek protection for the invention that forms the focus of the application in other territories by utilising the right of priority. Marie Houppe and Kate McNamara set out the options.

The filing of a first patent application gives rise to a 12-month priority period in which a subsequent patent application can be filed which claims priority from the first application. A valid priority claim means that the subsequent application(s) is treated as if it had been filed on the day of the earlier ('priority') application. This is beneficial as the earlier effective filing date is used as the cut-off for the assessment of prior art and, therefore, patentability.