A priority date in Intellectual Property Law relates to the earliest filing of registered IP rights including patents, trademarks and design registrations.
In relation to a patent, the priority date is the date you first filed your patent application and the time at which you disclose the invention details clearly enough that it could be made and used.
The priority date is important for patents as this is the date which examiners will use when determining the novelty of your invention.
While seeking out prior art information, only disclosures or publications prior to your filing date will count when assessing the novelty and inventive step of your claimed invention. This ensures that any copycat products released after your priority date do not impact examination of your patent and entitles you to claim priority over the invention.
Making an initial filing also provides you with the opportunity to continue developing your invention without forgoing protection. You can then amend the specifications and claims as needed although any broadening of the invention must be done within 12 months of your earliest priority date. While amendments after that date can still be made they are limited to the disclosure or information already disclosed in the patent specification.
Priority dates are also important as, if there are two or more parties that are both competing for the same intellectual property rights, the party with the earliest priority date is more likely to take precedence over the others. This does need to be determined on particular circumstances though.
Priority dates are determined by the date at which an application is filed at the patent or trade mark office of a country. When a patent application containing certain subject matter is filed at the patents office, then that subject matter is said to have the filing date as its priority date. Similarly when a registered design application is filed at the patents office, then the filing date is the priority date.
So which one will be confirmed as the applicable earliest priority date?
No matter how many additional filings are made with regard to the same initial patent, only the initial filing date is counted as the earliest priority date.
All later claims will be tied back to this first date as part of a combined patent.
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