|
Generally, the rule regarding anyone's rights to a patent is the person who first conceives of an invention and proceeds to perfect it and adapt it with reasonable diligence may date his invention back to the date of conception. Conception refers to the formation in the mind of the inventor a definite idea of a complete and operative invention. Conception must be established by extrinsic evidence (notes, witnesses, etc.), other than simply the testimony of the inventor. This is where the Disclosure Document program offered by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office fits in as evidence of your conception.
Generally, the date of your invention is either when you construct a working, useful model of your invention (called actual reduction to practice) or when you file a patent application (constructive reduction to practice). However, if you exercised diligence from the date of conception to the date of the invention, you can "back-date" the date of the invention to the date of conception. You would be interested in this in cases of infringement or interference where other inventors may have filed applications for identical inventions around the same time as you.
So, what is diligence? Since in the return for a monopoly, the inventor must fully disclose his invention; the "public"demands that the inventor act with reasonable speed in filing a patent application so that the knowledge contained in the patent will, as soon as possible, pass into the public domain. If you do not act fast enough, your invention will fall into the public anyway, unless it is something which can be protected indefinitely through trade secrecy. There is no specific formula for what constitutes diligence. Generally, we recommend that you take action within six months. |
