Patent Process Summary: I am not a Patent Attorney. Please...

Patent Process Summary:
I am not a Patent Attorney. Please verify yourself that the following information is correct.It is based on my experience filing numerous patent applications for my own inventions.

1) File provisional application - prioritises your idea for 12 months. Must file international application within this 12 months.

2) International application published approx 18 months after provisional application filed.

This is just the start.

3) No such thing as an international patent (there are regional patents eg European). Must enter the National phase in each country (region) that you seek protection. This phase usually must be entered within 30 months from provisional application date. Some countries less and Canada allows another 12 months for a fee. Patent applications will be examined separately in each country. Each country has its own particular set of rules for what is patentable and what is considered prior art. The USA patent rules are most at variance with International norms.

The time to grant (or rejection) varies greatly. The UK is probably the fastest (and cheapest) with an answer approx 2 yrs after entering UK National Phase. USA probably the slowest (took me approx 5yrs from national entry in one instance).

Therefore it may be an extended time before any definitive answer. Not sure where TNG up to - you can check progress at WIPO.org for international application status and various national patent office websites for local progress. USA try USPTO.gov.

On the flip side competitors don't know whether or not a patent will be granted. While varying amongst jurisdictions, an infringer may be sued back to the date the claims were first published (ie international publication date)if those are the claims finally granted.

It may become very expensive for a competitor should choose to go it alone in the hope that a patent is not granted to TNG only to find they have backed the wrong horse.

Given the substantial amounts of investment required for a mining project using TIVAN, one would want to be pretty certain that the technology was not novel before proceeding without some agreement with TNG. Even if something looks obviously unpatentable it may be - even if only in particular jurisdictions.

IMHO if TNG are only in the early phase of the National Stage then it could be 3-5 years before grant of patent in major markets. Within this period I suspect that any competitior wanting to use the technology would err on the safe side and license it. Should one of the major nations reject the application (or significantly modify the claims) it may then become a free for all.

Hopefully TNG are granted patents in which case they should have a monopoly on the process for about 20 yrs.

One thing I am a little cautious about is the fact that they are patenting a sequence for using a number of known processes rather than a novel process, however this is outside my area of interest (that is consumer electronics).