In person : The file contents of a pending application that was published as a patent application publication will not be given to a member of the public without a power to inspect. If the application is abandoned , the entire application except in the situation where the publication was a redacted publication is available to the public for inspection and for making copies through the File Information Unit FIU.
The telephone number of the FIU is Fees: The fee for a copy of an application file's contents is set forth in 37 CFR 1. The fee for a particular paper is set forth in 37 CFR 1. Customer Service staff are available between a. Eastern Standard Time. Patent Office website. Provisional patent applications are not published since they are not examined and they are only pending at the U.
Patent Office for months. After months, a provisional patent application automatically becomes abandoned and therefore will never be published.
Only a non-provisional patent application can be published by the U. Patent Office. Law if Filing Foreign. If you have filed or intend to file in a foreign country or an international patent application, then you are required under U. Provisional Rights. If a patent is granted, you may receive a reasonable royalty for infringing activity occurring from the date of publication of the patent application to the issue date of the patent.
Publication of a patent application places competitors on notice that you are developing technology in a certain area. Your published patent application will show up in patent searches by USPTO Examiners, competitors and others attempting to patent similar technologies. Prior Art. The published patent application can be used by the U. Patent Office to reject third-party patent applications for related technology regardless if your patent application is later abandoned or granted as a patent.
Some inventors want recognition for their work and publication of a patent application ensures that their technology will be fully disclosed with credit made to them even if a patent is not granted.
Reasons Not to Publish Your Patent Application Generally speaking, inventors seeking to license their patent rights typically want a patent application to remain confidential unless they intend to file in a foreign country. Below are some typical reasons to have a patent application remain nonpublished: Confidentiality of Invention. By not publishing your patent application, the invention disclosed in the patent application will remain confidential until at least a patent is granted.
If you do not anticipate public usage or disclosure of your invention within months after filing your patent application, this can prevent competitors from seeing your technology. Also, if you abandon your patent application, a competitor will not be able to see your technology filed with the USPTO.
Confidentiality of Patent Documents. When a patent application is not published, all communications to and from the U. Patent Office remain confidential to all third-parties until a patent is granted. Loss of Trade Secrets. If your patent application includes any trade secrets, the trade secrets will remain protected by not publishing the patent application if the application is published or granted as a patent, any trade secrets in the patent application are automatically lost.
Confidentiality of Application Status. If your patent application is not published, no third-party will be able to determine the status of your patent application. No Prior Art.
If you abandon this patent application and it is not published, the patent application cannot be used as prior art by the U. Patent Office to reject a later filed patent application by you for a related invention.
0コメント