There are many ways that have been pondered at large with the hope that a quick, easy, and effective proof of date or concept can be universally enforced and used, however none devised have yet to provide complete certainty in the courts.
The Inventors First Duty:
To Protect the intellectual property right that is associated with the said property, and be able to weild it on the behalf of the inventor, to which the creation is responsible.
This is
not to say that the inventor needs to profit on the invention, only that it should be up to the inventor what is done with the intellectual property. If the inventor chooses to sell and profit, very well, and if he decides to give it away, very well, but the rights of the product should rest squarely on the shoulders of thier founders.
How Does One Do This?
1.) The 'proven' method thus far (by popular belief as it seems, this is a most often suggested method) has been to record, sign and date a witnessed copy of an invention disclosure within a notebook, or blank book. Although I don't know how well courts uphold such documents.
2.) I have been told to mail a copy to yourself, and the postal mark will verify the date, although I do know that this has been thrown out in courts before.
3.) The US Patent and Trademark office suggests the legal means are as follows:
You may file a disclosure with the patent office. The cost is free, however the document is not opened, or examined on it's merits and therefore of course cannot be considered patent protection.
You may file a Provisional Patent application, which for under $100 allows you to claim the status of "Patent Pending" for one year. The catch is though, that the one year deadline to file another patent application, can leave you without your invention if you are unable to provide the funds necessary to pursue an issued patent. Utility, Design, and Plant patents are examples of issuable patents. You must file one of these complete patent applications within a year of application for your Provisional patent otherwise your rights are considered released to the public. One of the benefits to filing a Provisional Patent application if you plan to file a complete patent application is that your patent life can be extended up to a year. This is due to the fact that patents can take years to issue, however if you have a provisional patent, and file for a complete patent, the whole period that your patent is being approved, your invention is protected with patent pending.
You may file for yourself, or have a patent attorney file a complete patent for you. This is the long term way to protect your invention, and the only one that will result in a patent being issued to you. If you are granted a patent, certain fees must be paid upon issuance, as well as maintence fees at regular intervals.
Notwithstanding documentation, disclosures and patents, there is a nagging little factor refereed to as "reduction to Practice" |
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