Last month, we began a discussion about the necessity for obtaining foreign patents if a U.S. inventor wants to protect an invention in foreign marketplaces. This month, we will discuss the procedure for obtaining foreign rights.
Timing is critical in obtaining foreign rights.
The date upon which the underlying U.S. patent application was filed is known as the priority date. The patent application can be either a provisional application or a formal application. Foreign applications filed within one year of the priority date will take the priority date as the effective filing date for most purposes. In most cases where there is a similar invention disclosed in a patent application filed by another inventor, the patent will be awarded to the inventor with the earliest effective filing date. Thus, the priority date or U.S. filing date must be prior to any commercialization in order to obtain valid foreign patent rights.