Intellectual property rights are territorial, as are most rights derived by law. For example, patents protect ideas only in the country that grants the patent. To promote the ease of international commerce, there is a concerted effort by trading nations to standardize the laws of intellectual property via a treaty; particularly a multinational treaty, as opposed to a bilateral treaty. Understanding this ongoing and somewhat nascent effort is critical to practitioners in the field of intellectual property rights as well as to business people and politicians. Patent rights are the least globalized intellectual property rights, in contrast to copyright and trademark rights. However, over the last three decades, trademark's benefit to commerce has become more acknowledged, and so patent rights have become more standardized. This book shows patent holders how to use these multinational treaties to expand their patents on a country-by-country basis.

International Patent Treaties with Commentary assists practitioners in understanding the substance of relevant patent treaties and the background goals and philosophy that guide those agreements. This monograph provides a summary of the availability of international patent protection and how to acquire it. It includes detailed, article-by-article summaries of not just the most prominent patent treaties (the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, etc.) but of regional and specialized agreements as well (the European Patent Convention, the Eurasion Patent Convention, the Strasbourg Agreement, etc.). The comprehensiveness and practical guidance of this new work make International Patent Treaties with Commentary an essential resource for every practitioner tasked with protecting patent rights.
About the Author: Jon Nelson has practiced in the Chicago office of Banner & Witcoff, Ltd., for more than thirty-five years. Throughout that time he has been involved in the procurement of patents, trademarks and copyrights, advisory counseling, opinion preparation, contract negotiation and preparation, and extensive litigation related to patents, trademarks and copyrights. Mr. Nelson is known for his innovative approach to intellectual property problems, and has been listed among America's top intellectual property lawyers on a number of occasions.