Publication number:
Patent applications are assigned a publication number about
seven weeks before their date of publication. The applications
themselves are not, however, available to the public until the
day of publication.
Application number:
When a patent application is filed online, the application number
is assigned to the application and communicated to the applicant during the submission session itself.
Paper filers have to wait a few weeks before they receive this number.
Date of filing:
The date of filing is the date on which the documents filed by the
applicant are considered by the European Patent Office to
satisfy certain minimum requirements. More information can be
found in the European Patent Convention,
Art. 80.
Date of publication:
This is the date on which a patent application is published. This
happens in general 18 months from the date of filing or the date of priority.
More information can be found in the European Patent Convention, Art. 93.
Priority number:
This number is the number of the application in respect of which
priority is claimed. A right of priority is granted for a period of 12
months from the date of filing of the first application. During this
period the applicant has the opportunity to seek protection for
the same invention in a different country or region.
More information about priority right, claiming priority and the
effect of priority right can be found in the European Patent Convention, Art. 87-89.
|
|
|
|
