What are the steps to obtaining foreign patent protection?
Patents provide protection only in the issuing country. When one files a patent application, the USPTO issues a Foreign Filing License. That license specifies a priority date. Foreign patents must be filed within one year of the priority date or the priority date is lost. This one year window can be extended to thirty (30) months or even longer in some cases with the filing of an application in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Foreign patent applications must then be filed before the expiration of the PCT application.
