Priority

A right to priority for a period of 6 months may be claimed by an applicant who has already applied for registration of the same design in a country which is party to the Paris Convention.  The filing date of the earlier application becomes the priority date of the new application.  The rights of such applicants take precedence over other applications filed during the priority period in respect of the same design.

Where an application to the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland claims priority, the “priority document” (a certified copy of the original application), as filed in the original country, must be received not later than 3 months from the date of application.  This certified copy should be obtained from the office where this earlier application was made.

Similarly, applicants may claim priority in other states based on an earlier Irish application and in such cases, applicants can obtain for this purpose a certified copy of the Irish design application from the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland on payment of the prescribed fee.