International patents
When you apply for international patent protection, it is important to bear in mind that, like all intellectual property rights, patents are territorial. In fact, patents are very territorial. As we have seen, trade marks can be a little bit ‘iffy’ when it comes to the territoriality of rights. For example, even if a trade mark is not registered in South Africa (or has not been used on goods sold in South Africa), it can be protected if it is well known in South Africa.
The territorial rights of patents are different. If a patent is not registered in a country, there are no rights on that invention in that country. For example, if a patent exists in the United States, you cannot sell your product there. Conversely, if there is no relevant patent in Australia, Japan or Germany, you may sell it in these countries.
Two aspects that we should look at flow from this. First, convention applications, and then various international treaties — in particular, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).