The Paris Convention

Established for the first time in 1883, the Paris Convention establishes the important principle of claiming a right to priority. When filing a patent application in any country that is a member to the Paris Convention, it is possible - within one year after the first filing - for the applicant to claim priority from the first patent application when filing updated patent applications in foreign countries. Accordingly, an applicant has up to one year to decide in which countries to apply for patent protection and to prepare e.g. translations into the official languages of those countries.

When the priority of an earlier patent application is claimed, the filing date of the later, updated patent application is regarded as the filing date of the earlier (priority) patent application for the same subject matter (technical features) disclosed in both patent applications.