Priority right
704238
196626123
2008-03-07T22:08:12Z
Edcolins
51336
/* Example */ +image
In [[patent]], [[industrial design rights]] and [[trademark]] [[law]]s, a '''priority right''' or '''right of priority''' is a time-limited [[right]], triggered by the first filing of an application for a patent, an industrial design or a trademark respectively. The priority right belongs to the applicant or his successor in title and allows him to file a subsequent application in another country for the same [[invention]], design or trademark and benefit, for this subsequent application, from the date of filing of the first application for the examination of certain requirements. When filing the subsequent application, the applicant must "'''claim the priority'''" of the first application in order to make use of the right of priority.
The period of priority, i.e. the period during which the priority right exists, is usually 6 months for industrial designs and trademarks and 12 months for patents and [[utility model]]s. The period of priority is often referred to as the "'''priority year'''" for patents and utility models.
In patent law, when a priority is validly claimed, the date of filing of the first application, called the "'''priority date'''", is considered to be the "'''effective date of filing'''" for the examination of [[novelty (patent)|novelty]] and [[inventive step and non-obviousness|inventive step or non-obviousness]] for the subsequent application claiming the priority of the first application. In other words, the [[prior art]] which is taken into account for examining the novelty and inventive step or non-obviousness of the invention [[claim (patent)|claim]]ed in the subsequent application would not be everything made available to the public before the [[filing date]] (of the subsequent application) but everything made available to the public before the priority date, i.e. the date of filing of the first application.
== Rationale ==
The "basic purpose [of the right of priority] is to safeguard, for a limited period, the interests of a patent applicant in his endeavour to obtain international protection for his invention,
thereby alleviating the negative consequences of the principle of territoriality in patent law."<ref> [http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/pdf/t010015ex1.pdf Decision T 15/01 of June 17, 2004 of the Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office.] </ref>
== Types of priority rights ==
=== Convention priority right ===
The "Paris Convention priority right", also called "Convention priority right" or "Union priority right", is a "priority right" under a multilateral arrangement, defined by Article 4 of the [[Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property]] of [[1883]]. The Convention priority right is probably the most widely known priority right. It is defined by its Article 4 A.(1):
:''Any person who has duly filed an application for a patent, or for the registration of a utility model, or of an industrial design, or of a trademark, in one of the countries of the Union, or his successor in title, shall enjoy, for the purpose of filing in the other countries, a right of priority during the periods hereinafter fixed.''<ref name ="ART4PC"> [http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/paris/trtdocs_wo020.html#P83_6610 Article 4 Paris Convention] </ref>
Article 4 B. of the Paris Convention describes the effects of the priority right:
:''Consequently, any subsequent filing in any of the other countries of the Union before the expiration of the periods referred to above shall not be invalidated by reason of any acts accomplished in the interval, in particular, another filing, the publication or exploitation of the invention, the putting on sale of copies of the design, or the use of the mark, and such acts cannot give rise to any third–party right or any right of personal possession.''<ref name ="ART4PC"/>
Article 2 paragraph 1 of the [[World Trade Organization|WTO]] [[Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights]] (TRIPs Agreement) in conjunction with the Paris Convention provides a "derived" Convention priority right.<ref> [http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/27-trips_03_e.htm Article 27 TRIPs Agreement] </ref> That is, while WTO members need not ratify the Paris Convention, they should however comply with Articles 1 through 12, and Article 19, of the Paris Convention. (For a comparative list of the States party to the Paris Convention and the members of the WTO, see for instance ''States Party to PCT/Paris/WTO]'' on the WIPO web site<ref> [http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/texts/pdf/pct_paris_wto.pdf States Party to PCT/Paris/WTO on the WIPO web site (Adobe PDF)] </ref>).
=== Priority rights under other multilateral arrangements ===
Some priority rights are defined by a multilateral convention such as the [[European Patent Convention]] (EPC) <ref> {{EPC Article|87|1}} </ref> or the [[Patent Cooperation Treaty]] (PCT). <ref name="8PCT"> {{PCT Article|8}} </ref> The Paris Convention only covers priority claims of applications in Paris Convention Contracting States. It does not cover priority claimed in a European patent application or in an international application (or PCT application).
==== European Patent Convention ====
{{EPC Article|87|1}} defines the priority right system under the EPC or more precisely recognise priority rights for first filings in or for States party to the Paris Convention:
: ''A person who has duly filed in or for any State party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, an application for a patent or for the registration of a utility model or for a utility certificate or for an inventor's certificate, or his successors in title, shall enjoy, for the purpose of filing a European patent application in respect of the same invention, a right of priority during a period of twelve months from the date of filing of the first application.''
{{EPC Article|89}} describes the effect of the priority right:
:''The right of priority shall have the effect that the date of priority shall count as the date of filing of the European patent application for the purposes of Article 54, paragraphs 2 and 3, and Article 60, paragraph 2.''
As explained by the [[Appeal procedure before the European Patent Office|Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO)]] in its decision [[G 3/93]] of [[August 16]], [[1994]] (Reasons 4):
:''Articles 87 to 89 EPC provide a complete, self-contained code of rules of law on the subject of claiming priority for the purpose of filing a European patent application (cf. decision J 15/80, OJ EPO 1981, 213).''
:''The Paris Convention also contains rules of law concerning priority. The Paris Convention is not formally binding upon the EPO. However, since the EPC - according to its Preamble - constitutes a special agreement within the meaning of Article 19 of the Paris Convention, the EPC is clearly intended not to contravene the basic principles concerning priority laid down in the Paris Convention (cf. decision T 301/87, OJ EPO 1990, 335, reasons point 7.5).''<ref> [http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g930003ep1.htm Decision G3/93 of August 16, 1994 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office] </ref>
==== Patent Cooperation Treaty ====
The Patent Cooperation Treaty, in its Article 8(1), provides the possibility of claiming a right of priority for the filing of an international application (PCT application):
:''The international application may contain a declaration, as prescribed in the Regulations, claiming the priority of one or more earlier applications filed in or for any country party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.''<ref name="8PCT"/>
Rule 4.10(a) PCT goes on to mention that:
:''Any declaration referred to in Article 8(1) ("priority claim") may claim the priority of one or more earlier applications filed either in or for any country party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or in or for any Member of the World Trade Organization that is not party to that Convention.''<ref> [http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/texts/rules/r4.htm#_4 Rule 4 Patent Cooperation Treaty] </ref>
However, Rule 4.10(a) as amended with effect from January 1, 2000 does not apply to all designated Offices.<ref> [http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/texts/rules/r4.htm#note1 Rule 4, note 1, Patent Cooperation Treaty] </ref> For instance, for the [[European Patent Organisation|European Patent Office]] as designated Office, the old Rule 4.10(a) still applies, that is, rights of priority of first applications made in a WTO member not party to the Paris Convention are not recognised.
=== Internal priority rights ===
Some priority rights, called "internal priority rights", are defined by some national laws. <ref> For instance, in Canada: [[Manual of Patent Office Practice]] (MOPOP), [http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/patents/mopop/ch07-e.pdf ''Chapter 7: Internal priority and convention priority]. </ref> Such internal priority right allows an applicant who filed a first application in a given country to claim the priority of the first application when filing a subsequent application in the same country. The Paris Convention does not cover internal priority rights. ''See, e.g., [[provisional application]] in the US.''
=== Priority rights under bilateral agreements ===
Some priority rights also exist on the basis of bilateral agreements. <ref> For instance, bilateral agreements with [[Taiwan]]: Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan), [http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/Ipr/ipr01a.htm ''Taiwan's commitment to protect intellectual property rights. Cooperative Agreements Signed between Taiwan with Other Nations''], Consulted on November 11, 2007.. Agreement No. 3 "''Mutual Recognition of Invention Patent Priority Right with [[Germany]]''", No. 5 "''Mutual Recognition of Patent Priority Right with [[Switzerland]]"'', etc... are bilateral agreements on priority rights for patents. Other bilateral agreements relate to trademarks and industrial designs. </ref> A bilateral agreement between a first and a second country may allow an applicant who filed an application in the first country to claim the priority of the first application when filing a second application in the second country. These kinds of bilateral agreements usually involve at least one country not party to the Paris Convention.
== Example ==
An example may help to understand the legal concept of priority right. The example presented here illustrates the case of the priority right in patent law, but the example could be extended to trademarks, taking into account the difference of priority period (12 months for patents, 6 months for trademarks).
[[Image:2005 mousetrap cage 1.jpg|thumb|right|Ms. A's hypothetical improved mousetrap.]]
Let us imagine the following scenario. Ms. A has invented an improved [[mousetrap]] and decides to apply for a patent on her mousetrap. She first files a [[Germany|German]] patent application on July 15, 2006. Starting from July 15, 2006, Ms. A has then one year to file patent applications in other countries to be able to benefit from the date of filing of the German patent application in these other countries. If Ms. A files on July 15, 2007 a patent application in the [[United Kingdom]] (UK) for her mousetrap, and if, upon filing the patent application in the United Kingdom, Ms. A claims the priority of the earliest German patent application filed one year before, the effective date of filing for examining the novelty and inventive step requirements in the United Kingdom will be the July 15, 2006, not July 15, 2007. The effective date of filing will be the date of priority, July 15, 2006, not the actual date of filing in the United Kingdom, July 15, 2007.
This means that any disclosure to the public of the improved mousetrap between July 15, 2006 and July 15, 2007 will not be considered prior art against Ms. A's patent application in the United Kingdom. Any disclosure to the public of the improved mousetrap between July 15, 2006 and July 15, 2007 will not affect the novelty of her patent application in the United Kingdom. If Mr. B independently invents around January 2007 the same improved mousetrap and decides to directly publish in February 2007 a paper explaining how his new mousetrap works, the publication of the paper by Mr. B will not affect the novelty of Ms. A's patent application in the United Kingdom, even though the publication of Mr. B's paper takes place before the actual date of filing of Ms. A's UK patent application.
The priority system, including this one-year priority right, enables Ms. A to file a patent application as soon as possible in one country (in this case in Germany, and in [[German language]]), and gives her one year to do whatever is necessary to file patent applications in other countries (translating the text of the application, filling the application forms, sending the translated application and forms to the foreign patent offices, collecting the funds to pay the filing fees, and so on) without being affected by any intermediate publication.
== References ==
* Reinhard Wieczorek, ''Die Unionspriorität im Patentrecht: Grundfragen des Artikels 4 der Pariser Verbandsübereinkunft'', C. Heymanns, 1975 ISBN 3-452-17822-6
* Oliver Ruhl, ''Unionspriorität : Art. 4 PVÜ und seine Umsetzung im amerikanischen, europäischen und deutschen Patentrecht'', Heymann, 2000 ISBN 3-452-24566-7
* Decision [[G 3/02]] of 26 April 2004 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office [http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g020003ex1.htm]
== Notes ==
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
{{reflist|2}}
== See also ==
* [[Filing date]]
* [[Inventive step and non-obviousness]]
* [[Novelty (patent)|Novelty]]
* [[Prior art]]
[[Category:Intellectual property law]]
[[Category:Patent law]]
[[Category:Trademark law]]
[[uk:Право пріоритету]]
[[zh:优先权 (知识产权)]]