13 ms·
If you invented it first, but didn't tell anyone about it, then it's not prior art and anyone else is free to patent it. If you publish details about it, it's p
by Flenser 15y ago
If you invented it first, but didn't tell anyone about it, then it's not prior art and anyone else is free to patent it. If you publish details about it, it's prior art and can't be patented.
- extension 15y agoOk, so the difference with the current system is that publishing the idea is, in itself, the prior art, rather than serving as evidence thereof. As defined in the bill, prior art can be "patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention". It's not a great time to be making laws that depend on a formal distinction between published and unpublished, since that distinction has been just about completely smoothed over by now.