Under the provisions of the Paris Convention, an applicant for a patent, trade mark or design has a period of time (12 months for patents; 6 months for trade marks and designs) within which to file corresponding applications in other countries which claim priority from the initial application. A claim to priority means that the subsequent application benefits from the filing date of the initial application and, consequently, will not be adversely affected by events (such as the publication of an invention, or the filing of applications by other parties) that occur during the intervening period.