ABSTRACT
Patents are grants from the government, whether it be the Government of the United States as is the case with a United States patent, or the Republic of France in the case of a French patent. Since the some 200 or more governments which comprise the world today are all sovereign nations, their respective laws, and hence the patents granted pursuant thereto, can extend only to, and not beyond their respective geographic boundaries. Thus a patent granted by one country can have no direct legal effect on the activities of a person in another country. Simply stated, the patents granted by a country, like its laws, have no extraterritorial effect.
