Foreign Filing Licence

A permission granted by the Patent Office of a country that permits the recipient to file a patent application for an invention in a foreign territory. 

Many jurisdictions, including the UK, restrict the filing of patent applications abroad where those applications relate to military technology or contain information that, if published, would be prejudicial to national security or public safety.  Such jurisdictions typically place requirements on applicants to seek prior permission or take various other steps before filing a patent application containing such sensitive subject-matter abroad.  Failure to do so may constitute a criminal offence. 

Since the requirements of different jurisdictions vary and may attach to the nationality or residence of the inventors or the applicant, applicants may sometime be faced with a complex set of competing requirements - particularly when multiple inventors with different nationalities are involved.   

Under the UK regime, foreign filing of patent applications containing such sensitive subject-matter is prohibited without first obtaining approval from the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO).  However, it is also possible to file the first patent application for such inventions at the UKIPO and provided the UKIPO does not issue a direction requiring the application to be kept confidential on national security grounds (a "Secrecy Direction"), the applicant is permitted to file further patent applications for that invention after a period of six weeks has passed. ​