You should consider: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/provapp.htm
Terry On 7/1/07, Paul Lowrance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Horace Heffner wrote: > > On Jul 1, 2007, at 10:43 AM, Paul Lowrance wrote: > >> Horace Heffner wrote: >>> On Jun 29, 2007, at 1:06 PM, Paul Lowrance wrote: >>>> There's a lot of talk about the verbiage used in Steorns NDA. I'd >>>> bet this NDA would kill any chance of me patenting any future >>>> successful "Free Energy" machine. >>> Hopefully you are aware that anything patentable that you have >>> created and you publicly disclose, by posting here or placing on your >>> web site for example, without first having a patent application, >>> instantly becomes public domain in most countries, and starts a one >>> year clock for a patent application in the US. After that one year >>> you will be unable to obtain a valid patent in the US. At least >>> that's the way things used to be. I haven't kept up with changes in >>> recent years. >> >> >> Lets try this again. Thanks for the info! As far as I know it becomes >> Prior Art in the U.S., and open-source/public-domain in various other >> countries. >> >> >> My stated goal is to freely give away such a device to the world and >> patent it in the U.S. Furthermore I would encourage people to build >> such a device to personal use and/or build such units for others >> incapable of building such a device for free or for profit. > > Yes indeed. There is a huge worldwide need. If you have a patent you > can stipulate such things in the license. It appears to me the only way > to make inventions and their progeny "freeware" is to patent them and > then protect the free nature through the licensing. Unlike copyright, > which is automatic, there is considerable cost and diligence required up > front. > Unfortunately, though public disclosure on the web may > disqualify the inventor from obtaining a valid patent, it may not > prevent another inventor from patenting the same. Are you saying that if the inventor freely publishes it on the web that it can actually prevent the inventor from obtaining a patent, but anyone else can obtain a patent on the invention??? If true (God help the silly government) then how about the inventor getting a family member to obtain to patent? > Posting is a public > disclosure, but not necessarily considered publication by the PTO, so > there is a grey legal area now with respect to exactly what is prior > art. It might be a good thing if the international patent system made > available a low expense "freeware" or "freepat" registration database to > establish prior art. This seems to me to be a good thing for a company > like Google to attempt if they want to do something a bit altruistic, > though, like Wiki, it would end up being high traffic. I think it might > require some of serious funding, though, because instead of "examiners" > there would be a need for patent writing assistants to cull over the > more important inventions and give them the best protection possible. Paul Lowrance
