Szaba, I have seen anns by some companies (not LNC) implying that they had patents 'registered' in various jurisdictions when in fact they have only just entered the national phase. Hopefully this is just a misunderstanding by directors of the patenting process. The following is an outline of the IP process, trust it proves helpful. I have constructed a number of patent specifications and claims and filed in various jurisdictions however I am an inventor not patent attorney, so please seek expert advice if applicable.
There is no such thing as a world wide patent. A patent usually needs to be applied for in each required nation state. There are some regional patents, for example a European patent. Even when this is granted one must take action to have it activated in each of the European member states. This involves paying each country a national fee and translating the patent claims into the official language for each country. Up until a few years ago it was also a requirement to have the entire specification translated into the local language - the Europeans have finally streamlined this a bit by only requiring one ( of I think English, French,German).
The first step in applying for a patent is to file a provisional application. It is important to keep your idea to yourself until filing a provisional. In theory even if only one person (apart from a patent attorney, co-inventors) is told about your idea before filing it is considered public domain and no longer patentable. Filing a provisional gives you a priority date for your idea from the filing date and protects you for one year. If someone has the same idea and files a day later, they are out of luck (and vice versa if you are a day out). In practice it gets more complicated, as a person with a similar idea may have thought of useful things that you didn't and those useful things may still be patentable by the other party. This is particularly important in the early stages of an application because neither party will have had their applications published and things that would be considered obvious and not patentable after publication are not considered obvious before publication. For example, if two parties concurrently invented an electronic calculator, the first to file could have the very broad claim of an electronic calculator. However if the first to file did not specify say a multiplication button, and the second to file did, then the second party could have a patent for an electronic calculator with a multiply function. Number 2 could not sell any type of calculator, because that right belongs to Number 1, however, Number 1 could not sell one with a multiply function - making it a pretty useless device.This is fair as both inventors came up with similar novel ideas independently. The first gets the broader claims. Once the patent application is published the idea of a multiply button may now be considered obvious and not patentable.
Attorney fees apart, it is very cheap to apply for a provisional in Australia - about 80 bucks. It also protects your idea in all members states of the Patent Convention Treaty (PCT,) that is now most countries.
Within one year of filing a provisional application a more definitive patent application must be filed, else you loose the benefit of your provisional application.The timelines are critical - one day over and kaput! If only seeking a patent in one or a few countries, individual national applications may be lodged in each required country. In this case it is matter of waiting for each national patent office to individually examine your application and determine if your idea is actually novel and deserving of protection. Each country has its own rules for what is patentable, obvious and novel - the USA being the most out of step with the rest of the world. They are gradually changing their rules to more closely harmonise with most other PCT members.
For many inventors, the next step after a provisional is to file a PCT application. This continues to protect you idea for an extended period in each member country of the PCT. PCT filing fees are about 3K. Your idea is still a secret giving you the opportunity to file enhancements to your IP that will not be considered obvious when examined. This will change 18 months after the filing date of the provisional when your PCT application is published by WIPO (World International Patent Organisation) when the world has access to you idea. Between the time of filing a PCT and its publication one of the authorised PCT examining offices (that includes IP Australia) will provide you a preliminary report on the patentability of your claims. They must be novel, not obvious and have industrial applicability to warrant patent protection. This information will also be included with the published application. Even if the PCT Authority indicates that your claims are valid it is no guarantee that individual national patent offices will agree and it is also possible that one country may grant you a patent and another will not. It does indicate you may be on the right path and help decide if you wish to proceed to the much more expensive and time consuming national phases. In practice claims will be modified one or more times to get around examiner objections - usually by narrowing what might have been overly broad gambit claims.
At the time of publication the application is given a WO number. Szaba, with respect to LNC this is the publication you commented upon.
At this stage your idea and priority date is still protected (assuming it is novel). Additionally, if someone else has thought of a similar idea their application will have already been published (unless they are only a few days ahead in which case it may come out at the same time). It is therefore 18 months from the time you first apply for a provisional that you can have any degree of confidence that you are alone with your idea. It can also be a time of angst as was the case with me in the early 90's when Intertrust filed a system for software protection in Feb 1995 (that from memory, Microsoft eventually ended up paying Intertrust several hundred million dollars for unauthorised use of their technology) whilst I filed a provisional for similar technology Jan 1996 - neither of us were aware of the other until Intertrust published August 1996 and they were not aware of me until July 1997. Intertrust 1,me zero - such is life.
After publication the next step is the national phase. A separate application is required for each country for which you seek protection. These generally need to be filed within 12 months of the publication date - some exceptions (eg Canada 24 months). Now it gets expensive (particularly as translations are required for each official language) and time consuming. Rules are different for each country. UK fast and cheap. USA slow (still waiting 5 years for latest US application). Europe expensive.
In summary, when seeking IP protection it takes min 18 months before finding out if anyone has a head start and 36 months before some clarity as to whether or not someone may confound you with IP that would normally be considered obvious. May take a long time for grant of patent.
Once a patent is granted it is generally possible to sue back to date of original publication of claims - however this becomes complicated if the claims are subsequently modified (as is often the case).
LNC Price at posting:
84.5¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
