You have an invention you want to patent. To qualify in most countries, your invention must meet the standard for so-called absolute novelty. This means it cannot have been sold or disclosed in prior patents, publications, trade brochures, advertisements, etc. Such items constitute what is referred to as the prior art.
This is not the case in the United States, which does not require absolute novelty as a condition for a patent. In the US, applicants have one year from the first public disclosure of the invention to file a US patent application and obtain a patent, subject, of course, to the other requirements for patentability.
To preserve foreign filing rights in absolute novelty countries, consider filing a US provisional patent application. Provisional patent applications are patent applications filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). but not examined by it. They are placeholders, establishing a patent filing date before public disclosure occurs, and may be nothing more than a copy of a soon-to-be published technical paper or inventor results to be presented at an upcoming technical conference.
If a regular – or utility – patent application is filed with the USPTO within one year of the earliest filed provisional application filing date, and provided the regular application claims subject matter described in the provisional, then as to that subject matter the regular application will receive the provisional application's filing date. In other words, the utility application will be treated as though it was filed on the same day as the provisional application, thereby preserving absolute novelty for foreign filing purposes with respect to any activity occurring between the filing dates of the provisional and utility applications.
Edward M Weisz
Cohen Pontani Lieberman & Pavane LLP
551 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10176
United States
Tel: +1 212 687 2770
Fax: +1 212 972 5487
eweisz@cplplaw.com
www.cplplaw.com
