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0 pointsicebraining13y ago0 comments

That wouldn't be a problem if the original creator had published or patented the invention her/himself. Which is what the patent system is designed to encourage.

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Daniel_Newby13y ago

Suppose you come up with a jig for drilling holes in engine blocks. To you it is just a cost of doing business, like stocking the bathrooms with toilet paper. Your competitor can "invent" it fraudulently, file a patent, and blow your factory out of the water.

icebrainingOP13y ago

If you just want to protect yourself, just publish it somewhere. Prior art still exist with first-to-file, just not secret prior art. See Defensive publication[1], which isn't exactly a new concept, even in US patent history.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_publication

lusr13y ago

But then aren't you potentially giving away your competitive advantage?

Let's say I invent a new search engine, Poople. I don't have much money to patent it. But I can't keep the details secret either lest somebody else patent it. But by publishing the details defensively, my competitor with deep pockets, Paapo, goes and reimplements my algorithm and wipes me out of the marketplace.

Which part of the story did I get wrong?

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cube1313y ago

If you're making and publicly selling the jig, then that's prior art, and it cannot be patented by anyone else except for you.

That standard has not changed at all.

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