So if I had a U.S. provisional or non-provisional that wasn’t yet published, disclosed in any way, and was not yet filed as a PCT is there anything stopping a foreign country from doing so?
Say in the case of a patent with a national competitiveness aspect where there would be incentive for a foreign country to (if somehow aware despite none of the public disclosures above - espionage) prevent a patent internationally, in their country, or even to steal the IP. Is there a way that after filing my provisional and on my way to the PCT that a foreign country can’t just say a non-provisional was filed a month earlier and change the date?
Is there an international system for dating a patent outside of the PCT process (which would still have the same problem since it gives priority to domestic patents).