The patent grant procedure – the customary procedures

Priority date

This is the date on which the patent attorney files your patent application.

Search report

This report sets out the results of the search. The search is aimed at establishing whether your invention meets the novelty requirement: others may not yet know of your invention. The patent granting authority draws up this report. This will take a maximum of nine months. The search report is an important source of information in deciding what you will do with your first patent application within the priority year.

End of the priority year

It is often wise to file the same patent application in one or more other countries within the priority year. That way the original filing date will also apply to such further applications.

Publication request

Each patent application is published 18 months after being filed, often together with the search report. Everyone may then familiarise themselves with your technical invention.

Conversion of PCT application

In addition to the Dutch patent application, you may also file further applications abroad, such as an international patent application. This is known as the PCT procedure. A PCT application will extend the original priority year by 18 months. In that case you will have 30 months in which to decide in what other countries you will file patent applications. The PCT patent application will then automatically lapse.

Granting of a patent

In the Netherlands, the applicant is granted a patent for our country after 18 months. In Europe, the USA and Japan, a patent grant procedure applies in which the patent application is submitted to a substantive test on the basis of literature referred to in the search report. After the patent has been granted, the authorities must be paid a fee (recurring and increasing each year), known as the annuity. In the case of a European patent application, the patent must be validated in each desired European country after being granted, by submitting translations.

Expiry of patents

A patent has a maximum term of validity of 20 years after the filing date. After that, everyone may use your technical invention.