Does a patent mean I'm protected globally?

No, a patent only covers the country it is granted in. You need to file an application in each country of interest if you wish to protect your rights there. ​

However, you have a 12 month period following your first patent filing in any country to claim convention priority in another country or countries using your original filing date.

This means that any subsequent application or prior art will be secondary to your application claiming priority from your original filing date.

Example

An example would be if an initial patent application was filed in Australia on 28 January 2020. The Applicant would have until 28 January 2021 to file an application claiming priority from the initial Australian application in any other country or countries of interest.

If we assume the Applicant took this opportunity and filed a New Zealand application on 26 January 2021 claiming priority from the earlier Australian application, the priority date of their New Zealand application would be 28 January 2020. Any claims of the New Zealand application supported by the disclosure of the original Australian application would be entitled to the priority date of 28 January 2020.

If a publication dated 24 June 2020 was then cited against the New Zealand application in the course of its examination, the earlier priority date from the initial Australian application would mean that the publication of 24 June 2020 would post-date the priority date of 28 January 2020 and the publication would not destroy the novelty of the claims of the New Zealand application.

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