Why Patent Filing is Essential Before Public Disclosure, Commercialization, or Publication of Your Invention
In summary, filing for a patent before disclosing, commercializing, or publishing your invention is crucial for protecting your intellectual property, maintaining competitive advantage, and ensuring legal recourse in the event of disputes.
These are all good reasons for filing an application before publicly disclosing an invention and I commend the author.
However, use of the word "essential" and "crucial" may suggest to some that strong patent protection cannot be obtained if the invention is published before an application is filed. This is not necessarily the case.
In the USA and several other industrialized countries, "grace periods" allow an inventor (Inventor A) to file an application within 6 to 12 months after disclosing the invention publicly. As long as a competing inventor (Inventor B) does not independently conceive the same invention and file an application for it before Inventor A files an application, Inventor A can obtain undiminished patent rights, including the advantages outlined by Mr. Singha.
Nevertheless, patent protection around the globe is based on first-to-file patent systems. Therefore, by all means, inventors should not delay filing once they have fully conceived an invention and decided it is worthy of patent protection. In the USA, provisional patent applications are a good and cost-effective way to preserve rights at the earliest stages of invention development.
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