Deadline for Filing a Foreign Patent Application

       nlike the United States, almost all foreign countries in which patent protection can be obtained require, as a general rule, that a patent application be filed before public disclosure of the invention is made in any manner anywhere in the world. Many countries, however, allow an application to be filed after a public disclosure has been made, provided the application is filed within twelve months of the date of filing of a U.S. patent application, and no public disclosure was made prior to the filing of U.S. application. Accordingly, if you wish to obtain patent protection in countries other than the U.S., you should make no public disclosure of your invention prior to filing your U.S. patent application.