The “effective filing date” for a claimed invention in a patent or application for patent is the earlier of: (1) the actual filing date of the patent or the application containing a claim to the invention; or (2) the filing date of the earliest priority application (i.e., the earliest filed provisional, nonprovisional, international, or foreign application) to which a patent or patent application is entitled to a right of priority for the claimed invention. See 35 U.S.C. § 100(i). Effective filing date is evaluated on a claim-by-claim basis. In general, this means a claim is entitled to the filing date of the earliest filed application supporting that claim.
