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Convention Countries for the purposes of the Patents, Trade Marks and Designs Acts

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property requires each member country to accord nationals of other member countries the same rights for their industrial property as it accords to its own nationals. It provides a right of priority for applicants for patents, trade marks and designs in any of the member countries deriving from the date of the first application for the invention, trade mark or design concerned in any other member country, provided the subsequent applications are made within a prescribed period (12 months for patents and utility models, and 6 months for industrial designs and marks) after the first application.
The list of convention countries for the purposes of the Patents Act 1990, the Trade Marks Act 1995, and the Designs Act 2003 are contained, respectively, in Schedule 4 to the Patents Regulations 1991, Schedule 10 to the Trade Marks Regulations 1995 and Schedule 1 to the Designs Regulations 2004.