Planning Patent Priority Before Starting a Business in Georgia

Priority planning begins before the first non-confidential disclosure of the invention. The first application must describe the technical features, variants, and effects sufficiently if they are to benefit from priority later. New technical content added only in a later application does not automatically receive the earlier date. From the first filing date, the generally twelve-month Paris Convention priority period for further applications in Georgia or other countries must be monitored. Within this period, target markets, the competitive environment, manufacturing countries, budget, and the appropriate filing route must be determined. Options include national applications and, for international planning, an application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which can allow more time for later country decisions but does not grant a world patent. The inventors, applicant, and transfer of rights to the company being formed or already established must be clarified in writing. If several stages of an invention are developed one after another, their documentation and possible separate priority dates should be considered separately. Publications, presentations, trade fairs, sales, or public testing should take place only after an appropriate first application has been filed. The filing date, application number, scope of disclosure, and all subsequent deadlines must be recorded in a deadline calendar.