🚀 go-pugleaf

Imran Anwar (ia4@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu) writes:
 
>I was told that one has to apply for a patent in the USA within one year 
>of any date when the information about the product/design/invention may
>have been made public by some way in some publication for example, but,
>I was told that if the exposure took place abroad then the one year 
>system does not apply.
>
>Interesting thought: Suppose someone wants to give a news item about their
>invention in the US and plans to apply for a patent within the year of that.
>But, these days so many international news services exist that the news
>can easily be lifted/carried by newspapers abroad.  Does that take away
>the right of the inventor to apply for a patent even though he/she may
>not even have had anything to do with the news going abroad?
 
If the patent you wish to apply for is a patent in a country other than the 
U.S., you should talk to a patent lawyer in that country to get the full 
scoop on what will bar patentability.  Generally, you must file prior to
the public divulgation of the invention.  (What counts as divulgation?  The
answer is "it depends".)
 
If the patent you wish to apply for is a patent in the U.S., you need to have
filed (1) no later than one year from the first publication of the invention 
anywhere in the world;  and (2) no later than one year from the first sale
or offer for sale of the invention in the United States.
 
So a news item anywhere -- in the US or elsewhere -- is going to start that
one-year clock running.
 
But a sale or offer for sale would have to be in the US to start the one-year
clock running.
 
Again, talk to a lawyer.  If you think you may have invented something, then
things like this are important enough you should not rely on an informal 
communication with others.  Talk to a lawyer.
 
Carl Oppedahl
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY  10112-0228