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Chapter 2 Right of Priority A. Conditions and Effects of Priority Art. 17 (1) Where an invention is the subject of a regular filing of an application for a patent for invention, a utility model or an inventor's certificate and where the filing takes place or produces its effects in one of the countries party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883, other than Switzerland, it shall give rise to a right of priority in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention. Such right may be claimed for a patent application filed in Switzerland for the same invention within 12 months from the date of the initial filing. (1bis) The first filing in a country that grants reciprocity to Switzerland shall have the same effect as the first filing in a country party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. (1ter) Except as otherwise provided by this Law or by the Ordinance, paragraph (1) and Article 4 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883, shall apply mutatis mutandis to an initial Swiss application. (2) The effect of the priority right shall be to make non-opposable to the application any facts which have come to pass since the date of the first application. (3) [Repealed] B. Right to Claim the Right of Priority Art. 18 (1) [Repealed] (2) The right of priority may be claimed by the first applicant or the person who has acquired the right belonging to the first applicant to file a patent application in Switzerland for the same invention. (3) If the first filing, the filing in Switzerland or both were effected by a person who was not entitled to the grant of the patent, the real owner of the right may claim the priority deriving from that first filing. C. Formal Requirements Art. 19 (1) Any person claiming a right of priority shall file a declaration and a priority document with the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. (2) The right of priority shall lapse if the time limits and formal requirements laid down by the Ordinance are not complied with. D. Burden of Proof in Legal Action Art. 20 (1) Acceptance of a priority claim in the procedure for the grant of the patent does not relieve the patentee from proving the existence of such right in the case of a legal action. (2) The filing on the basis of which priority is claimed shall be presumed to be the first filing (Article 17(1) and (1bis)). E. Prohibition of Cumulative Protection Art. 20a Where an inventor or his successor in title has obtained for the same invention two valid patents with the same filing date or priority date, the effects of the patent based on the earlier application shall cease insofar as the scope of protection afforded by the two patents is the same. Art. 21 [Repealed] (to Art. 23)

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