An Application for a Patent must be made to the Patents Office accompanied by a Patent Specification. A Patent Specification must contain a description of the invention, one or more claims, and any drawings which are referred to in the description to illustrate the invention. The Patents Office grants a Patent for an invention, which it finds is an advance on the state of the art (novel) and is not an obvious development.

Under a Treaty known as the Paris Convention, an Applicant can within 12 months, seek Patent protection in another member country and claim priority back to the date on which the first application was filed.