Patent family

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A patent family is all the patents and patent applications resulting from a specific patent application.

Generally, a patent application for an invention is originally filed in one country. Sometimes that original patent application is the basis for filing patent applications in several other countries (see also right of priority). Each of these new patent applications can become the basis for filing subsequent patent applications. A single patent occasionally results in many, many patents throughout the world.

When one patent application results in several patents in many different countries, all of the patents and applications associated with the original patent application is called the patent family.

[edit] See also

• Continuing patent application
• Triadic patent
• INPADOC patent family database
• Derwent World Patents Index patent family database