International Patents

By: Josh Sloat

Your Travel Guide to Foreign Protection

In today’s global economy, the importance of international patent protection cannot be overstated. Your invention could be conceived of with a workforce distributed across several continents. Your manufacturing could happen in Asia or India, while your products are shipped into and distributed from ports in the target markets of the largest economies across the globe. Would be competitors and infringers could be next door neighbors or perhaps across the pond. But as you’ll learn today, there is no such thing as an International Patent – no one global patent that protects you everywhere. Instead, patents are jurisdictional property rights. For example, a U.S. patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing the claimed invention within the United States. It has no bearing on activities performed in Canada, Mexico, China, or anywhere else in the world. To restrict activities there, you will need a patent granted in each of those countries.
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​So, how do you choose where to file? How long do you have to decide? What pathways exist for filing internationally? How do you pursue international protection in an intentional, strategic, cost-effective manner that won’t break the bank? And what should you be thinking about now, while drafting your patent to set yourself up for the greatest odds of success once on the international stage?
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Episode Overview

Dr. Ashley Sloat, Aurora’s very own international patenting tour guide, leads today's discussion with our all-star patent panel, traveling from the U.S. to Europe, Africa, India, East Asia, Australia, and everywhere in between, exploring the intricacies and nuances of ensuring your patent rights are protected everywhere it matters. Along the way, Ashley and the panel discuss:

• Reasons for pursuing international protection.
• How to choose locations with a cost-effective international strategy.
• Foreign filing deadline and strategy pointers.
• The most common pathways for foreign protection including, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Paris Convention, the European Patent Convention, Unitary Patents, and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization.
• Things you need to be thinking about well in advance, in terms of drafting your patent and the international dangers of public disclosure.
• And even some considerations for how political happenings like tariffs, trade wars, and Brexit can impact your patent strategy.

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Ashley is joined today by our always exceptional group of international IP experts, including:

• Dr. David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting
• Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategy Specialist at Aurora
• Marie Smyth, Patent Agent at Brake Hughes Bellermann LLP
• And making their Patently Strategic debut, Albert Du and Dr. Tiffany Miller – the two newest additions to the Aurora family.

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Mossoff Minute: A Friend to Inventors

In this month’s minute, Professor Adam Mossoff discusses Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick's remarks at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and what this positively signals for the near future of innovation policy.
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How to Listen

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Resources.

To further explore the topics discussed, see the following past episodes and resources:

Related Episodes

• ITC Proofing Patents
• Foreign Filing License Risks and Strategies
  
• Continuation Practice
  
• Public Disclosure Risk

Related Reading

• Patent Anatomy
• PCT Timeline
• Foreign Filing License Requirements, by Country

Transcripts​
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​Slides
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