Priority right (patent)

À la suite du dépôt d’une demande de Patent auprès d’un État membre de l’Union de Paris ou de l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC) (par exemple auprès de l’INPI), le déposant bénéficie d’une période de 12 mois, à compter de cette première demande, pour étendre sa protection dans un autre État membre de l’OMC tout en conservant la date du premier dépôt.

Therefore, the right of priority in patent law is a legal principle that allows an inventor or applicant to seek international protection for their invention by relying on the filing date of an earlier application in another country.

Specifically, when the applicant files a patent application in a given country, he or she can claim priority for that application when filing a subsequent patent application in another country that is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. This priority means that the filing date of the first application is considered as the filing date of the subsequent application in the other country.

This enables the applicant to benefit from more extensive protection for his invention, while avoiding losing the priority of his initial application. The right of priority is generally valid for 12 months from the date of filing of the initial application, but the duration may vary according to national legislation.