Priority

The term refers to the priority (lat. = the prior Front )

• In general, the priority of a thing, a rating scale or of a person against another. This can be interpreted both in time and in the proper sense of meaning. The classification of the priority of individual tasks is referred to as prioritization or prioritization and is an essential part of time management.
• In the area of intellectual property law, the stress of the date of first application for protection for one or more subsequent applications, usually in other countries ( see below)
• In the area of scientific publications, the first disclosure of a scientific method or theory is referred to as a priority. Numerous disputes between scientists were led not by objective reasons, but because of the priority of their publications. A special importance is the priority in biological nomenclature that decides which names of biological taxa are authentic to use.

In general sense, one can also distinguish between higher and lower priority (eg in resources, which assigns a computer running multiple programs).

Intellectual Property

In the field of industrial property rights ( patents, trademarks, etc. ) has been agreed as one of the first international agreement in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (short Paris Convention, the Paris Convention ) that, starting from a first application in a first country all recognize Member States of the Paris Convention within certain time limits (patents 12 months / Brands 6 months) the seniority of this first application is also appropriate subsequent applications in their countries, provided the content of the subsequent application is included in the initial registration. It is essential here that the subsequent application actually refers to a first application of the subject matter and thus no earlier pending application with the same content exists. The question of whether the earlier application whose priority is to be claimed, in turn claims priority from still earlier application is claimed, is irrelevant in so far as the mere existence of these still earlier application is enough to stress the priority of the earlier application to make ineffective.

In copyright law, a priority of such protection does not exist. Since this is not registered and registered rights, but copyright is essentially the act of creation arises in itself, even such an assessment is not possible. Therefore, there are readily identical copyrighted works side by side, as long as there is no plagiarism.

Effect of priority right

If a priority has valid claim for a patent application, part of the prior art, only what was made available to the public before the priority date. This is important for the applicant, because patents can be granted for inventions that are new to her filing against the state of the art, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial applications.

To avoid double patenting, patent applications additionally be used with earlier priority or filing date for examination for novelty, but not for the assessment of inventive step.

The priority right has for the European Patent Convention ( EPC), the effect that the priority date, the day of the European patent application, what the state of the art (Article 54, paragraphs 2 and 3 EPC) and right to the patent (Article 60 paragraph 2, EPC ) is of importance.

Example

A first filing (priority) in Germany on February 1, 2007, allows up to and including 1 February 2008 ( extended by any public holidays ) subsequent applications for the same subject in other countries like France or the USA or by collection in Europe ( EPC) or international ( Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Patent Cooperation Treaty - PCT) submitted without the state of the art, which is known, for example, in March 2007, the subsequent applications precludes.

This priority also established the right to a patent for the regional or national subsequent applications to other applications for the same object that are submitted after 1 February 2007.