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Archives for Val Cottrill « Recent Articles

May 30, 2009

The On-Sale Bar

By Val Cottrill

The on-sale bar is a trap for the unwary which can prevent you from obtaining patent protection in the U.S.

In my first article, I discussed the consequences of a public disclosure of your invention prior to filing a patent application. In this article, I want to discuss the U.S. on-sale bar. It's another way in which you may inadvertently lose rights due to your own actions prior to filing a patent application.

This bar is created by U.S. legislation which requires that a U.S. patent application must be filed within one year after an offer for sale in the United States of a product which…

May 23, 2009

Prior public disclosure and your patent application

By Val Cottrill

You can lose rights to apply for patent protection if you disclose the invention before a patent application has been filed.

On a regular basis, clients who want to file patent applications only come to see us after they have publicly disclosed the invention. They are usually surprised to learn that they have lost rights due to the public disclosure. In fact, it sometimes happens that the clients who have publicly disclosed the invention come to see us when it's too late for them to file a patent application anywhere.

So, I thought a brief review of how a prior public disclosure affects your ability to apply…