If a first filed application issues into a patent before the expiration of the Paris Convention deadline, should payment of the issue fee be delayed until the subsequent patent application is filed?

Strong arguments exist for why delaying the payment would be unnecessary.

Article 4B of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property states:  “Consequently, any subsequent filing in any of the other countries of the Union before the expiration of the periods referred to above shall not be invalidated by reason of any acts accomplished in the interval, in particular, another filing, the publication or exploitation of the invention, the putting on sale of copies of the design, or the use of the mark, and such acts cannot give rise to any third-party right or any right of personal possession. Rights acquired by third parties before the date of the first application that serves as the basis for the right of priority are reserved in accordance with the domestic legislation of each country of the Union.”