4 ms·
If you scoop another researcher then you get the publication. Then the first thing you can do is ruin someone's year by publishing the fruits of their hard work
by unishark 6y ago
If you scoop another researcher then you get the publication. Then the first thing you can do is ruin someone's year by publishing the fruits of their hard work before they do. They are screwed and you take the novel direction over.
But for real IP, in the US if you publish something you get a year to patent it. In many other places you have to patent it before you publish. So if you get their info before they have published it yet you can file the patent first.
- pkaye 6y ago> But for real IP, in the US if you publish something you get a year to patent it. In many other places you have to patent it before you publish. So if you get their info before they have published it yet you can file the patent first. The US used to be first-to-invent but now its also first-to-file like in the EU countries.
- redis_mlc 6y agoThe GP's point was that in the US, you have up to a year of publishing before patenting it, even in 2020. In the EU, you have to file the patent first before publishing. I have to admit it sure sounds like it's the opposite of first-to-file in the US, at least for the first year, but those are the rules.
- unishark 6y agoIt certainly seems like a risky situation to get into. I'm sure lawyers would probably always advise you to file first anyway. For one thing you aren't a lawyer so the way you wrote up your publication may only cover an extremely narrow aspect of your invention. But once you publish the invention, others should not be able to patent the idea anymore as there is prior art (your publication) and patents are required to be novel. This leaves you as the only person who can patent it.