Foreign countries typically allow one year in which to file for a patent in the country while still retaining the filing date of the U.S. application to obtain priority over later filed applications in the foreign country and to eliminate consideration of prior art references. The U.S. allows the same time frame to take priority to an original foreign filing
By treaty, a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application can be filed to extend the process for most countries to at least thirty (30) months from the original filing date. If a PCT application is not filed, an individual national application must be filed in the foreign countries desired.
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