From a patent committee standpoint there are business decisions related to the patent prosecution process that must be made in a specific timeframe. These are shown in the “Patent Processing Decisions” figure. What’s important is that the deadlines shown on the figure have to be carefully followed in order to preserve patent rights in all appropriate jurisdictions. A view of these processes from a legal department’s perspective is shown below in the “U.S. Patent Prosecution Processes” figure.

Likewise, the legal department’s perspective of obtaining patent protection world-wide is shown in the “Foreign Patent Prosecution Processes” figure.