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Congratulations on being one of the millions of internet users who have no idea how the patent system works. First to file is purely for determining priority of
by axman6 13y ago
Congratulations on being one of the millions of internet users who have no idea how the patent system works. First to file is purely for determining priority of an application; the date at which the patent office (or another patent office under the Paris convention) comes to know about the invention. It's used to resolve a) which prior art is relevant (anything published publicly before this date) and b) if two people try to patent the same thing, which one gets it (gross simplification here). America was the only country which had the "First to invent" priority, which the rest of the world has deemed for decades as completely daft and a huge administrative nightmare.
- philbarr 13y agoI've read your comment twice, and it seems to me that it actually validates the "first to file, biatch" comment..? According to (a) if someone files a patent first then if there is any prior art that and any subsequent patent applications will fail. According to (b) if someone files a patent first then out of that and any later patent applications the first one will win. Seems to fit with "first to file" to me.
- dangrossman 13y agoThe "invention" has been made public (in paulftw's dated comment) before anyone has filed for a patent. It's no longer patentable material in a first-to-file system as there's now evidence that it's obvious to practitioners of the field, and this evidence predates any filing gcb0 can make. In first-to-invent, he could've claimed an invention date prior to the comment. Sound right?