Before filing the patent application, we conduct a search in order to determine a state of the art. The results are consulted with the applicant or inventor, respectively. We then draft and file the basic patent application for a single country, usually at SK IPO or CZ IPO.

We then have 12 months from the priority date of basic application to file European patent application for 38 countries (directly at EPO, Munich) or international PCT application for 153 countries (directly at WIPO, Geneva) – the priority date of such applications is the same as that of the basic application. If lesser territorial scope is desired, we can only file national applications in those 12 months – for example, only in Czech Republic or USA.

Claiming priority means that that, legally, the date of filing of the subsequent application is the same as that of the basic application. The applicant thus gains one year during which he or she can commercially develop the invention while only investing in a single application in a single country, yet.

During the PCT patent proceedings we evaluate the WIPO international search report and suggest further action. 30 to 31 months after the priority date of basic application we make national entries into countries which are important for the client. After the patent is granted in the respective country or region, annuity fees are paid.

If European patent is granted, it must be validated in individual countries of choice and annuity fees must be paid for each country.

Patent protection has be historically developed since the Eiffel Tower building. The basic international act is Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property from 1883, where the signatories sign up for patent protection. The patent law has subsequently developed into current complex and complicated form with tens of variously set deadlines, complex case-law and various approaches to assessment of inventive step. The language of patent claims, where a sentence can run for a whole page, may appear weird to a layman. Almost everywhere, the applicant needs not to be represented before the national office in the country of his seat or address. Therefore, the applicant can draft and file the application himself or herself. Such do-it-yourself applications usually contain mistakes which cannot be subsequently remedied by the professional representatives. In case the applicant intends to obtain patent protection abroad, we strongly recommend that the basic national application is already drafted by the patent attorney, since the costs of subsequent “improvement” of application abroad, if it is even possible, are much higher than the costs saved on the representation on the national level.