Formally known as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. An international agreement on protection of industrial property such as patents, trademarks, and appellations of origin, concluded in 1883 and administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Sec. III). The Convention provides for national treatment (also known as "assimilation") in signatories' patent and trademark laws, and provides a means of determining priority between competing claims (see right of priority). LDC participants in the Uruguay Round negotiations on intellectual property rights (IPR) generally prefer the Paris Convention to the Berne Convention because the former permits exception from patent coverage for foods, drugs, and chemicals, and because it allows them autonomy in establishing national IPR systems in accordance with their development objectives and strategies.

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. An agreement concluded in 1883 and updated several times since. It provides common rules between the member states for designs and other forms of intellectual property. A member state is often referred to as a Convention country.

Having filed a first patent application (usually in his/her own country), the applicant is allowed one year from that date in which to make further applications in member countries and claim the original priority date. Signatories to the Paris Convention (established March 20, 1883) are allowed one year from first filing their patent application (usually in their own country) in which to make further applications in member countries and claim the original priority date.