Filing a Patent Application
This chapter first addresses questions such as whether a patent application should be filed at all, and if so, when and where to file. As a general rule, if an invention appears patentable and may be of some commercial interest, a priority application should be filed. The applicant then has one year under the Paris Convention before significant amounts of time and money must be invested in filing in other countries. If the decision is made to file in other countries, or even to proceed to obtain a patent in the home country, the first filing gives a priority date that can be relied upon later. In other words, when in doubt, file an application. The remainder of the chapter discusses non-convention filings, European patent applications, international applications, registrations and patents of importation, and petty patents.