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Should I post-date my patent application?
Post-dating moves your application to a later date. It can buy time, but it never lets you add new matter, and it can cost you priority.
Section 17(1) can post-date the application by up to six months - but it has real costs.
High complexity - significant legal consequences
Before grant, the Controller may, on the applicant's request, post-date the application to a date not later than six months from the date it was actually made. Section 17 is subject to section 9.
- Every claim's date moves later (section 11(7)). Anything published in the gap - by you or anyone else - becomes prior art.
- Whether post-dating also moves the twelve-month deadline for the complete specification under section 9(1) is not clearly settled. Count from the original date unless your attorney advises otherwise.
- Other countries may not accept a post-dated application as a basis for priority if the original filing is more than twelve months old. Plan foreign filings from the original date.
- The request is made in the prescribed manner with the prescribed fee. Confirm the current form and fee with your patent attorney before filing.
- If you only need more time to reply to an examination report, a Form 4 extension may be the simpler route (rule 24B(6)).
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Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.