Patent Attorney: Colorado’s Mark Trenner Answers Questions…
When can I tell others about my invention?
Inventors often want to know when they can tell others about their invention. Patent attorney Mark Trenner always recommends his clients do not disclose anything about their invention to anyone before applying for a patent. And applying for a patent means actually filing at least a provisional patent application or full utility patent application with the US Patent Office.
Note that provisional patent applications cannot be used to protect a design. You must file a design patent application.
In addition, disclosing, using your invention in public, publishing anything about your invention, and even selling or offering to sell your invention may cause you to lose rights to your invention.
While there are some exceptions for those inventors who inadvertently disclosed their invention before realizing that they should have filed a patent application first, important legal rights can be lost. If a panicked client comes into Trenner Law Firm worried that they have lost rights to their invention by making a public disclosure, we may still be able to file a patent application if it has been less than one year since the public disclosure, depending on the circumstances.
But it is not a good idea to rely on a grace period, especially under the new patent law effective March 17, 2013.
In addition, many foreign patent laws require that a patent application be filed before any public disclosure. So if you are considering filing for patent protection outside of the US, you often must file a patent application before disclosing your invention.
Moreover, the US patent law changes in 2013 from a “first to invent” to a “first to file” patent system. This makes it even more critical that you do not disclose your invention and that you file a patent application as soon as possible – or you can risk losing important legal rights in your invention.