The Convention provides for the right of priority in the case of patents (and utility models, where they exist), marks and industrial designs. This right means that, on the basis of a regular first application filed in one of the contracting States, the applicant may, within a certain period of time (12 months for patents and utility models; six months for industrial designs and marks), apply for protection in any of the other contracting States; these later applications will then be regarded as if they had been filed on the same day as the first application, in other words, these later applications will have priority (hence the expression "right of priority") over applications which may have been filed during the said period of time by other persons for the same invention, utility model, mark or industrial design.
