Editing Priority right (section)

{{Short description|Concept in patent and trademark law}}
In [[patent law]], [[Industrial design right|industrial design law]], and [[trademark law]], a '''priority right''' or '''right of priority''' is a time-limited [[right]], triggered by the first filing of an application for a [[patent]], an [[industrial design]] or a [[trademark]] respectively. The priority right allows the claimant to file a subsequent application in another country for the same [[invention]], design, or trademark effective as of the date of filing the first application. When filing the subsequent application, the applicant must '''claim the priority''' of the first application in order to make use of the right of priority. The right of priority belongs to the applicant or his ''successor in [[Title (property)|title]]''.

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 model]]s. The period of priority is often referred to as the '''priority year''' for patents and utility models.

In [[patent law]], when a priority is validly claimed, the date of filing of the first application, called the '''priority date,''' is considered to be the '''effective date of filing''' for the examination of  [[novelty (patent)|novelty]] and [[inventive step and non-obviousness|inventive step or non-obviousness]] for the subsequent application claiming the priority of the first application. In other words, the [[prior art]] which is taken into account for examining the novelty and inventive step or non-obviousness of the invention [[claim (patent)|claim]]ed in the subsequent application would not be everything made available to the public before the [[filing date]] (of the subsequent application) but everything made available to the public before the priority date, i.e. the date of filing of the first application.