art wrote:
On 20 Jun, 13:02, Jim Lux wrote:


Glad you wrote that Jim. A lot of people have no real idea of how
the patent idea is used in commerce or that the claims are the
most important part so at to protect in the event of new
advances in science.When competing for contracts it is
important to protect your designs even tho trivial incase
the contract is put out again.

I do have a question tho
and that is with respect to trade secrets/utility patents.
If a person decides not to patent and the idea is later
deciphered does that prevent a patent issued to either
party?

Nope.. he who discovers first gets the potential ability to patent,
regardless of what you've done in the past. "first to discover vs first
to disclose". (US vs EU) If you've disclosed it, you have a year to get
the app filed (in the US.. everywhere else, you have to file before
first public disclosure) "disclosure" is kind of a tricky thing too.

That's why that evidence of date of invention (the classic bound
notebook with the signature on the page of someone who "read and
understood") is handy. That establishes "priority"


From a strategic point, it used to be (before the started publishing
apps) that you'd have a trade secret AND file an application. You'd mark
your thing "Patent Pending". You'd make little changes (possibly in
response to an examiner's questions, or possibly as a "Continuation in
Part" CIP) in the application to extend the time before the patent gets
granted and published. If someone looked like they had independently
discovered what your secret is (or they acquired it by espionage), you'd
let the application start running, and then you'd go to the competitor
and say, "Hey, we've got this patent application in the works, and YOU
don't know what's in it, and we're NOT going to tell you what's in it.
When the patent issues, we might be able to put you out of business.
Feel Lucky?" Then, negotiations for a license ensue.


This is all changing though, so don't take what I write as gospel.

With respect to submarines I thought the last
changes to patent law now prevents this.
Another posting stated that it is for the courts to determine
if a patent was authentic yet I read that the courts have now
stated that they are not in the game of overuling the
patent office any more.

There is that, too...

However, you still have to go to court to enforce your patent. The
alleged infringer has to say why your patent is invalid or why they
don't infringe. This isn't cheap. If the infringer is an off-shore
mfr, then you might get a customs order to stop importation, but that's
like playing whack-a-mole, because each and every container load will
likely be from a (ostensibly)different infringer.