1.4 First application 

The filing date date of filing of the "first application", i.e. the application first disclosing any or all of the subject-matter of the European application, must be claimed as priority. If it is found that the application to which the priority claim is directed is in fact not the first application in this sense, but that some or all of the subject-matter was disclosed in a still earlier application filed by the same applicant or a predecessor in title, the priority claim is invalid in so far as the subject-matter was already disclosed in the still earlier application (see F‑VI, 1.4.1).

Where the priority claim is invalid, the effective date of the European application is its date of filing filing date. The previously disclosed subject-matter of the European application is not novel if the still earlier application referred to above was published prior to the effective date of the European application (Art. 54(2)) or if the still earlier application is also a European application which was published on or after the effective date of the European application in question (Art. 54(3)).