Patent family

A patent family (also called equivalents ) refers to a group of patent applications and patents - are related to each other - like a family.

This applies to all patent documents either

  • Have the same priority or priority combination,
  • Have at least one common priority

Or else

  • Are directly or indirectly connected to each other via a common priority document.

In the Paris Convention ( Paris Convention ) has been agreed that starting to recognize from a first application in a first country all Member States of the relevant agreement within certain time limits (patents 12 months) the seniority of this first application is also appropriate subsequent applications in their countries, provided that the content of the subsequent application coincides with the initial login. This is referred to as a priority.

Definition

The following are definitions of the term patent family:

Example

First filing in DE on 1 January 2000 ⇒ ( identische! ) subsequent applications, for example, in FR, U.S. or collection procedures for Europe EPC or PCT international application is possible until 1 January 2001 ( possibly holiday rules ) without Stand the art, for example the on 1 June 2000 is known to preclude subsequent applications. All of these documents are in all definitions of the same patent family.

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