A company that wishes to protect an invention must file a
patent application in every country where it wants to have protection. All of
these applications and publications around the world for a single invention
constitute a patent family.
Normally, the applicant files the patent
application in their own country first. Later applications in other countries
will claim the priority rights acquired beginning on the date when that first
application was filed.
The number and date of the earliest application are called the priority number and date.
The extended family search retrieves all the documents that share at least one priority number. The results also include divisionals, continuations, and continuations-in-part.
To run an extended family search, simply enter ONE patent number. Check the option Display extended family table and if desired, the option Display graph.
Example: Searching for the publication number US2013111613 returns an extended family made up of two FamPat families.
Extended family search is available for the FamPat and Fullpat collections.