Home: Patents:
Inventors Handbook
B. Preliminary Patent Matters
I. “Idea” vs. “Invention”
Frequently, potential clients contact us to see if we can help them
protect an idea. Alternatively, potential clients approach us wishing
to sue a person or company whom they feel has stolen an idea.
It is important to distinguish between ideas; concepts that cannot
be the subject of intellectual property rights, and inventions;
specific machines, materials or processes that can be patented and
protected.
Ideas that merely address a problem to be solved, or propose a hypothetical
machine or method for solving a problem without specifically discussing
how the machine or method works are considered abstract ideas by
the Patent Office and may not be granted patent rights.
By contrast, when an inventor takes an idea and reduces it to practice
by establishing the best mode of carrying out the invention, and
can describe to a person of similar skill in the Art to which the
invention pertains, how the invention is made and used, patent rights
may be granted on such an invention.
Therefore, before attempting to pursue patent rights, it is important
to finish the inventive process, making sure that the subject matter
of a potential patent application consists of more than mere abstractions.
II. “Publishing” an Idea/Invention
Since mere ideas cannot be protected with patent rights, an idea
cannot be owned, and may be exploited by others. Therefore, when
an inventor is pursuing an invention based on an idea, it is best
not to reveal the idea to others who might pursue a similar competing
invention.
Although disclosing an idea doesn’t impact the right to patent
an invention based on that idea, there are rules that come into
play, once an invention is created.
In the U.S., inventions are not patentable if they have been in
public use or on sale more than one year before an application is
filed. By contrast, in many foreign jurisdictions, an absolute novelty
rule is observed; if an invention is published at all before a patent
application is filed, no patent may issue on that invention. For
these reasons, it is usually best not to publish, publicly use,
or sell an invention before filing a patent application.
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