The following 18 reasons help justify filing a patent application in the U.S. The first five reasons directly justify filing a patent application in the U.S. first. In any case, where a client eventually decides to file a patent application in the U.S., in hindsight at least, that client should have filed in the U.S. first. The following reasons should help make this fact clear.
1. First and most important: To better ensure the client obtains the broadest possible U.S. patent. Filing in the U.S. first, allows the applicant to jump back in time one year to define the prior art against which the client's patent application will be judged. Filing early in the U.S. is necessary in order to take advantage of the grace period of one year from the filing of your client's first U.S. application to exclude the applicant's own as well as a third party's prior art. Here's why: Title 35 U.S.C section 102(b), states the following:
