This is an excellent article that every entrepreneur should keep as a handy reference.
However, there's one significant error regarding international patents I want to correct.
There's no single patent application for the European Union. What there is is a single European patent application through the European Patent Convention, which is independent of the EU and has an overlapping but not identical set of member nations, as well as extension agreement nations (that typically eventually transition to member nations), and that recently also started establishing patent validation agreements without extension agreements (the first being Morocco).
International patent prosecution is very complex, but the one thing to definitely remember is just to talk to your attorneys about international patents at least a few months prior to one year after the initial filing date of any patent applications.
However, there's one significant error regarding international patents I want to correct.
There's no single patent application for the European Union. What there is is a single European patent application through the European Patent Convention, which is independent of the EU and has an overlapping but not identical set of member nations, as well as extension agreement nations (that typically eventually transition to member nations), and that recently also started establishing patent validation agreements without extension agreements (the first being Morocco).
International patent prosecution is very complex, but the one thing to definitely remember is just to talk to your attorneys about international patents at least a few months prior to one year after the initial filing date of any patent applications.