If the US application is filed within six months of the foreign filing date, the applicant may “claim priority” to the foreign application which means that the US application will get the benefit of the earlier foreign filing date.
The earliest filing date within a family of patent applications is referred to as the priority date. The priority date would be the filing date of the sole application when just one patent application is involved.
119(c) extends the right of priority to “subsequent” foreign applications if one earlier filed had been withdrawn, abandoned, or otherwise disposed of, under certain conditions.
The priority date for a trademark is established when the application is filed and remains fixed. It does not expire or change unless the application is abandoned or withdrawn. The priority date serves as a permanent reference point for determining the order of rights and protecting the trademark.
A US design patent application must be filed within six months of your foreign priority date. If the delay past the 6-month deadline is unintentional, an applicant might be able to file a late US design application with a priority claim by the 8-month date from the foreign priority date.
The priority date of a patent is the date on which you first file a patent application in respect of your invention. The application could be for a Dutch or a Belgian patent, or for a patent in any other country. You can make your invention public from this moment on as your idea has been registered as your invention.
The period of priority, i.e., the period during which the priority right exists, is usually 6 months for industrial designs and trademarks and 12 months for patents and utility models. The period of priority is often referred to as the priority year for patents and utility models.
The filing date is the date when a patent application is first filed at a patent office. The priority date, sometimes called the “effective filing date”, is the date used to establish the novelty and/or obviousness of a particular invention relative to other art.
The principle that superiority is fixed by the date of valid publication is known as Principle of Priority.