Can an email be used to claim priority?

[iper]

Hello

Can an email sent from an inventor to their patent agent, be used to claim priority over an invention or a component of an invention in a subsequent patent application?

Thanks!

[Brad]

No.  Only a filed patent application can be used as a valid priority claim.

In the past you could sometimes use an email to establish your date of invention in the United States but that is no longer the case as the US moved to a "first to file" patent system from an older "first to invent" patent system.

Bottom line - get those patent applications filed as early as you can to lock on your priority date.