Patents Outside the U.S.
A U.S. patent protects your rights only within the U.S.
Bear in mind that each country's patent office has its own requirements and quirks as well as (very often) its own language. Patents are an area of law and the law of any given country applies to its own patents.
International Patent Agreements
As of April 2008, the U.S. has accelerated patent application agreements with five countries:
Australia | Canada | Japan | Korea | U.K.
From the USPTO's Web site:
"Under the Patent Prosecution Highway, an applicant receiving a ruling from either the [countries we have agreements with] or the USPTO that at least one claim in an application is patentable may request that the other office fast track the examination of corresponding claims in corresponding applications. The Patent Prosecution Highway will leverage fast-track patent examination procedures already available in both offices to allow applicants in both countries to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently."
Some of these agreements are in trial stages, and the effective dates of the agreement with each country vary. See the USPTO's Web pages (linked above) for more specific information.
Four Largest Non-U.S. Patent Offices
Note: Keyword searches for international patents are just as unlikely to be comprehensive as those for U.S. patents. Use of International Patent Classification (IPC) codes are strongly recommended.
Europe
European Patent Office
 http://ep.espacenet.com/
The European Patent Office's consolidated database for its 34 member states (EPO is an autonomous body, not part of the European Union). Applying through EPO enables one to apply for a patent in all member states with one application--if one is applying in three or more countries, this is far less expensive than applying in each country individually.
Choose the search gateway by language. Some patents only available in the home country's language.
"More than half the patent applications filed worldwide every year are written in Japanese, Chinese or Korean. " --European Patent Office East Asian Patent Information Web site
All three of the following countries' English-language abstracts can be searched in esp@cenet. See esp@cenet's FAQ for each country linked from the East Asian Patent Information Virtual Helpdesk Web site.
China
State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China
http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/
English-language interface; you do not need to install the language pack
Japan
Japanese Patent Office
http://www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/homepg_e.ipdl
English-language abstracts also searchable through USPTO's database PubWEST, available at all Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries.
Korea
Korean Industrial Property Rights Information Service
http://eng.kipris.or.kr
English-language interface; you do not need to install the language pack
Related Links
esp@cenet's Coverage of the Worldwide Database - includes link to Country Codes, as well as one to Patent Documents Availability (which details date coverage for each country)
USPTO's list of links to Individual Countries' Patent Offices
USPTO's International Intellectual Property page
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Also see Further Resources
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