A grace period is a period of time before the date of filing a patent application during which certain kinds of disclosure of the creation would be excluded when the novelty and inventive step of the creation are being determined. Calculated from the date of earliest disclosure to the filing date, the duration is 12 months for invention or utility model, and 6 months for design.

The provisions governing this grace period will apply when disclosures are made either intentionally or unintentionally by an applicant – that is, where the content of the invention, utility model or design is disclosed in a printed publication, publicly exploited or publicly known prior to the filing of an application, and the patent application is filed within 12/6 months after the date of the disclosure. Such instances are all covered by the grace period.

An applicant claiming a grace period should state each fact and the relevant date of disclosure and provide document(s) of proof.

• Publish Date : 2020-08-26
• Update : 2020-09-14
• Organization : International Legal Affairs Office
• Visitors : 1992