French internal priority - Art. L.612-3
17.11.1998
When filing a patent application in France, it is possible to request the priority date of a prior french application, for the common elements, providing that : - the two applications are filed by the same inventor ; and - within a period of 12 months at most.
It is also possible to request a priority based on several prior applications, all within the period of 12 months. According to Art. L.612-3: - none of the applications can enjoy a foreign priority ; and - the prior application cannot enjoy an internal priority that is outside the period of 12 months. When filing the first application it can be useful to request that the drawing-up of the search report be deferred during a period of 18 months (according to Art. L.612-15), in order to need only one search report for both applications. According to Art. L.612-3, last paragraph: "The grant of a patent enjoying a prior filing date under this Article shall lead to termination of the effects deriving from the first date for those same elements." If the second application contains the whole prior application, the titular has only one patent having effects and for which he keeps on paying annual fees. A multiple priority can be requested for a foreign extension. The second application only serves for the uncommon elements. Thus, extension has to be requested on the basis of both applications and within the period of 12 months with regard to the first application.
