In this article we are going to discuss the tricky aspect of the marketing strategy when applying for a patent.
Obtaining a patent is a complicated process under normal circumstances. Under United States law, a company or person is entitled to a patent unless the invention has been for sale in the United States for more than one year prior to the patent filing date. This applies to both sales and sales quotes. Therefore, companies conducting marketing campaigns must be careful not to destroy their patent rights. In a perfect world, a patent application must be filed before sales begin. But then that would hurt the company’s bottom line because it ultimately puts profits on hold. In a competitive market, this could spell disaster for the company.
Therefore, it is important for a company to understand what exactly starts the one-year clock. In other words, what can and can’t they do to prevent your product from going on the timer?
To answer that question we have to understand what exactly, according to the law, starts the clock. There are basically two conditions. The first is that the invention must be patent-ready at the time of sale. If it can be shown that the inventor had enough drawings that would allow someone else to use the invention, then this would meet the first criterion.
The second criterion is that there has actually been a sale offer. In other words, the inventor or the company that owns the invention approaches another company and offers to sell the invention. This can be in the form of a letter to the other company or in an actual physical meeting between the two companies. Usually the meeting follows a letter.
In the form of a letter, the owner of the invention usually writes a letter stating that he has such and such an invention and goes on to say that he thinks this is something that would improve his business. In the letter they would describe what the invention does and how it would help them. They would then ask the other company to contact them if they are interested.
At the time of the meeting, the inventor will bring drawings of his invention and present them to the company interested in acquiring the invention. Maybe the inventor even has a working prototype that he can show you. This is always an advantage. Companies really like to see that the invention they are interested in works.
Where the law comes in, and this is where inventors can turn back the clock, is that the following items do not fall within the two criteria. Request for customer pricing information from distributors and sales representatives; publication of preliminary data sheets and promotional information on the features of the invention; communications to sales representatives; sales representatives who provide customers with preliminary data sheets; and customer sample requests from sales representatives.
Therefore, an inventor can engage in any of the above activities and NOT start the one year clock. This allows the inventor to do as much legwork as possible for his patent without actually “technically” starting the process.
This is important information for any inventor if he is trying to gain as much ground as possible in his patent search.