Does claiming priority to a previous application affect your patent term?

Claiming priority to a previous application can indeed affect the patent term, particularly for nonprovisional applications. When an applicant claims priority from a previous application, the filing date of that earlier application can be used in determining the effective filing date of the later application. This is particularly important because the United States grants a patent term of 20 years from the effective filing date.

For nonprovisional applications, claiming priority from earlier filed applications allows inventors to secure their effective filing date, potentially extending their patent term if the earlier application was filed well before the nonprovisional application. This is because the earlier application’s filing date could predate the new application's filing date, thus affecting the duration of the patent rights by allowing for potentially earlier coverage of the invention.

When it comes to claiming priority from foreign applications, while this may also be relevant under certain treaties such as the Paris Convention, the specific option that indicates the effect on nonprovisional applications captures the essence of how claiming priority operates within the U.S. patent framework.

Thus, the correct answer highlights that the impact on patent term occurs specifically in the context of nonprovisional applications, aligning with how priority claims function in U.S. patent law.