Exclusive rights to a patent are recognized and may be enforced only by the country granting the patent. If it is intended to market an invention abroad, patent protection may be desired and must be obtained in each and every target country.
The Paris Convention
In 1883 an international treaty was created in Paris, to deal with multilateral patent filing rights. This treaty is known as the “Paris Convention” and is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Most industrialized countries are signatories to the Paris Convention, and are often referred to as “convention countries”.
The primary function of the Paris Convention is to guarantee that the original filing date of a patent application in one convention country is preserved in subsequent applications filed in others, so long as they are filed within one year of the original filing date. Publication or public disclosure of the invention, made after the filing date, will not affect an application for the same invention filed in another convention country within a year of the original filing date as explained on how do you patent an idea with InventHelp article.
It affords an inventor a full year after filing an application in one convention country (his or her own, typically), to assess the market potential of the invention in others before filing applications there, without risking rejection due to the disclosure of the invention that is attendant to market assessment efforts.
The European Patent Convention
A multilateral, Pan-European treaty–the European Patent Convention (EPC)–was created in 1973, instituting for its administration the European Patent Organization (EPO), which is based in Munich, Germany.
The EPC is similar in purpose and function to the PCT, but covers Europe only. It is designed to streamline and harmonize filing procedures for patents sought in several European countries simultaneously. An EPC application undergoes prior art search and substantive examination by the EPO and may be granted allowance.
A European patent granted by the EPO does not possess a unitary character, as its legal scope is determined independently by each member country. It must be validated within a prescribed time limit by each designated country, which may require translation to be supplied.
Representation by a European patent professional is mandatory for applicants residing outside Europe. You can read more about patenting process from how to file a patent with InventHelp post.