核实外国优先权时“首次申请”判断需注意的情形

The Special Situation which Should Pay Attention to when Verifying the "First Application" of Foreign Priority

在核实作为本申请A外国优先权基础的在先申请B是否是记载了同一主题的“首次申请”时,当检索未发现《专利审查指南》(2010)第二部分第八章第4.6.2节列举的主题相同且申请日早于本申请优先权日的专利文件C的情况下,还应注意核查是否存在无法通过常规检索获得、申请日早于本申请优先权日且主题相同的外国临时申请C’,若存在上述临时申请C’,且该临时申请C’已经被用作过要求优先权的基础,则依据《保护工业产权巴黎公约》第4条第C部分第(4)款的规定,作为本申请优先权基础的在先申请B便不属于相同主题的“首次申请”,即此时本申请优先权不成立。

For a patent application A who asks to enjoy foreign priority,when verifying whether the prior application B is the first application of the same subject,if the patent document C with the same subject and which application date is earlier than the priority date of the present application,as described in Section 4.6.2 of the Guidelines for Patent Examination(2010),is not found through searching,we should continue to verify whether there is a foreign provisional application C'with the same subject,which application date is earlier than the priority date of the present application but can't obtain it through conventional search.If above-mentioned document C'does exist and also has been used as the base of other application's priority,according to the Article 4 Part C(4)of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property,the prior application B is not the fi rst application"of the same subject at this time,in other words,the present application can not enjoy its foreign priority.