Under United States patent law, the term of patent is 20 years from the filing date of the earliest U.S. or international (PCT) application to which priority is claimed. This applies to all patent applications submitted after June 8, 1995. For utility patents filed on or after June 8, 1995, the term of the patent is 20 years from the earliest filing date of the application on which the patent was granted and any prior U.S. or Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications from which the patent claims priority (excluding provisional applications). ^{wikipedia.org 1 2 3}