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Patents: Inventors Handbook
IV. Disclosure of the invention
As inventors transform ideas into completed inventions, it is often necessary
to disclose parts of the invention to third parties prior to filing for
the patent. This may include others skilled in the art of the invention,
potential investors, and persons involved in marketing inventions.
Record Keeping: It is a good idea to maintain a record book for the invention,
which is signed and dated. In some instances, it can be worthwhile to
have documents notarized. Although many countries are “first to
file” jurisdictions, the United States is a “first to invent”
jurisdiction, and documents related to the date of invention (as opposed
to the application filing date) can be useful as evidence.
Contracts: Contracts are also useful tools in preserving patent rights.
Non Disclosure Agreements can be a valuable safety mechanism for protecting
an invention. Although such agreements provide only a contractual remedy
in the event of an unauthorized disclosure, such an agreement is an inexpensive
deterrent against the unauthorized use of information related to an invention.
Non-Disclosure agreements are frequently combined with Non-Compete Agreements
to prevent third parties from capitalizing on disclosed information.
Assignments: If there are multiple co-inventors, each inventor will have
an equal undivided right in the invention. Therefore an assignment agreement
should be in place before disclosing or developing an invention with third
parties. Under such an agreement, each inventor agrees to assign their
rights in the invention to another party, such as a company or partnership
that will own the patent rights. This prevents multiple inventors from
undercutting each other in the market if the invention is a success.
V. Patent Searches
A preliminary search of an invention can be useful to assess the current
state of the Art regarding the invention, understand potential prior art
references, and to avoid infringing existing patents. If a patent has
already been granted on an invention, no subsequent patents may issue
on the same invention. However, improvements to patented inventions that
are themselves novel, useful and non-obvious are patentable.
Inventors can search issued patents and published applications online
at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html,
or in person at a USPTO patent depository library.
Professional searches can be conducted using a patent search firm, or
patent law firm. Using professional services is frequently advisable,
since patent searchers are familiar with the USPTO classification scheme,
and will search entire classes and subclasses of inventions.
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