first-to-invent system. Patents. The practice of awarding a patent to the first person to create an invention, rather than the first to file a patent application. • Because the first inventor is not necessarily the first person to file for a patent, an interference hearing is held to decide who is entitled to the patent. […]
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first-to-file system. Patents. The practice of granting priority to the first person to file a patent application. • Most of the world uses a first-to-file patent system; the only major exception is the United States, which grants priority to the first inventor. Cf. FIRST-TO-INVENT SYSTEM. [Cases: Patents 90(1). C.J.S. Patents §§ 120–122.]
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Patents. The date that will determine which applicant in an interference proceeding will get a patent. • The priority date is also the cutoff date for prior art. In the United States the priority date is the date of invention; in the rest of the world it is the date on which the patent application
prior-user right. Patents. The right of a first inventor to continue using an invention after someone else has patented it. • This right protects first inventors in most countries from the harsh effects of a first-to-file system. See PRIVATE-USE EXCEPTION(2).
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. A treaty designed to unify and streamline patent prosecutions and trademark applications among the signatories. • The Convention eased the harsh effects of the first-to-file priority rule by allowing an applicant in any member country one year in which to apply in other member countries while maintaining
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