Patent rights are granted for invention of new and useful processes, machines, manufactures, compositions of matter or any new and useful improvement thereof. He should define as well the scope of the invention for which protection is sought. Because they are unaware of patent law and procedure, some inventors may think that once they obtain patents in their home country, they have a worldwide protection for their inventions. Contrary to what it is understood by these inventors, each country issues its own patents, and that patent affords protection only in the country where it is issued. For this reason, it is important that the inventor should seek viable legal advice while patenting his invention and before offering it for sale and making it available to the public.
Most general rules have exceptions, and that is the case here.
One exception occurs where a group of countries has agreed to designate a single patent office to examine a patent application for patentability. Once that office has determined that the application is worthy of a patent, all countries of the group will accept that patent which automatically protected in each country member. A second exception occurs for those few countries that will accept a patented invention in another country as their own upon application for such action. The countries that will honour other country's patents in this way are few and they are often countries in which patent applications are scarcely filed. The inventor must consider in what other countries he is interested in obtaining patent protection.