• Intellectual Property Attorney
• Patent Protection
• Patent Application
• Trade Mark Application Procedure

Patent Application

Even if patent protection is ultimately required in a range of countries, the application procedure is usually initiated by the filing of an application for a UK patent.  The date of filing the application is termed the “priority date” for the invention described in the patent specification which accompanies the application.  The priority date is important because it is the date against which the novelty and inventiveness of the invention are assessed when, at a later stage, the application undergoes search and examination procedures.  It is for this reason that it is important that no public disclosure of the invention takes place before a priority date has been established. 

The priority date is also important because it initiates a period of twelve months during which corresponding patent applications may be filed in or in respect of foreign countries.  Applications  in those countries are then entitled to claim the same priority date as was established by the initial application.  If, therefore, there has been an intervening public disclosure of the invention between the priority date and the foreign filing date, patentability of the invention will not thereby have been compromised, because the foreign application is entitled to claim a priority date before the date of the public disclosure.

Foreign patent applications can be filed directly in the countries of interest up to 12 months after the priority date but, in order to defer and potentially save costs, it is possible to make use of either the European Patent Convention (EPC) and/or the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT). 

The EPC provides for the filing of a single European patent application, in English, at the European Patent Office, designating 38 European countries in which patent protection may eventually be required. 

The PCT provides a mechanism of establishing an option on later-filed national (including European) patent applications.  The PCT application must be filed within 12 months of the priority date and can designate up to 144 countries around the world.