Article provided by Adams & Adams A patent application is a request made to a patent office for the grant of a patent for a particular invention. Ordinarily, this request would be made to a national patent office for grant of a patent within that country. However, regional arrangements exist, whereby a treaty regulates the grant of intellectual property rights, such as patents, for a larger geographical jurisdiction. A regional patent application may therefore have effect in several different countries. Regional arrangements may offer advantages such as lower costs (i.e. of filing one central application instead of several national applications), faster processes etc. The three main regional arrangements which will be discussed fall within Europe and Africa (ARIPO) and (OAPI).