• 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 the application’s original priority date. It also banned patent-protection discrimination against residents of other member nations. Now administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, an agency of the United Nations, the Convention was first signed in 1883 and revised most recently in 1970. — Often shortened to Paris Convention.
— Also termed Paris Industrial Property Convention.
