RIGHTPAT- IPRIMA PATENT ATTORNEYS
  • Home
    • News & Articles >
      • McLaren Tech
  • Contact
    • About us
  • Why use IP?
    • IP is a Business Tool
    • Key Benefits of IP
    • IP is Useful
    • IP has Value >
      • Intellectual Capital
      • Intellectual Capital - You've Already Got It
      • Intellectual Assets (IA)
      • IC - Put It to Work
      • Step it Up a Level
      • Goodwill
    • Registered IP Process >
      • Patent Process
  • What is IP?
    • The Invention
    • The Industrial Design
    • The Artistic Work
    • The Trade Mark
    • Get-up & Trade Dress
    • Urban Myths
  • Protecting IP
    • Protecting IP
    • Patents >
      • Novelty >
        • Disclosure
      • Inventiveness
      • Patentability
      • Specification
      • Patent Claims >
        • Reading claims
      • Patent Filing Process >
        • Priority Date
        • Provisional Spec
        • Overseas appln >
          • International PCT
        • Complete Spec
        • Examination
        • Opposition
        • Grant
    • Reg Designs
    • Copyright
    • Trade Marks
  • Resources
    • IP enables ... >
      • Transfer & Assignment
      • Licensing
      • Franchising
      • Partnerships
      • Venture Capital
      • Market Lead In
      • Easing in Products
      • Sideways expansion
      • Overseas expansion
    • Traps for the Unwary >
      • Commissioning
      • Confidentiality Agrmt
      • Unregistered TMs
      • Freedom to Operate
      • Employees
    • Exporting
    • Complementary TM
    • Conflicting Values
    • Conflicting Co-brands
    • Infringement
  • Coming...
    • Services we Provide
    • Protecting IA
    • Searching >
      • Prior Art

Patents - What Constitutes Public Disclosure?

Perhaps the simplest way to look at disclosure is to consider it as being an act which places the invention (or key aspects of it) in the hands of anyone (including the general public) who is under no obligation to keep it secret.  

Even situations where someone could have legitimately discovered or seen the invention, regardless of whether anyone did or not, will still constitute public disclosure.  Leaving inventions in unsecured areas with public access would constitute public disclosure.  Keeping them in a private closed warehouse or workshop away from public viewing would not.  Hence, make sure inventions in your workshop are not in public view.

Commercial use is generally regarded as a public disclosure.  Hence sale, pre-sale, private viewings for the purpose of acquiring a sale, constitute public disclosure in most countries.

Some countries provide an exception for disclosures performed at certain conventions and exhibitions. However it is not wise to rely on these exceptions, other than as a last resort.  Not all countries recognise these exceptions, and not all conventions and exhibitions are eligible for the exception.

Common sense generally prevails, as well as your actions to take reasonable precautions to prevent disclosure.  As a guide, actions regarded as disclosure include:

  • public display or use of an invention;
  • publication of details of the invention;
  • commercial use of the invention, even if secret;
  • sale or advertising for sale of the invention
  • pre-sale of the invention
  • testing in public
  • disclosure or showing the invention to any party not under an obligation of confidentiality
  • sale of a product containing the inventive portion, even if the public might not know it is contained within

Often the only exceptions are disclosures which were performed contrary to the wishes and intentions of the patentee.  Unauthorised disclosures by a third party, or theft, are the typical acts falling within this exception.  Though while your patent rights might be preserved (and there is generally an obligation to file for patent protection at the earliest possible opportunity after such an act), this can significantly interfere with planned development and commercialisation schedules for the invention, as well as alerting the competition to what you are doing.


Back to Patents
Next >
Picture
RIGHTPAT - IPRIMA
​PATENT ATTORNEYS
Contact
About Us
News
Site Map

 Design and content Copyright Antonia Sims 2004-2017
Information on this site should never be substituted for professional advice
  • Home
    • News & Articles >
      • McLaren Tech
  • Contact
    • About us
  • Why use IP?
    • IP is a Business Tool
    • Key Benefits of IP
    • IP is Useful
    • IP has Value >
      • Intellectual Capital
      • Intellectual Capital - You've Already Got It
      • Intellectual Assets (IA)
      • IC - Put It to Work
      • Step it Up a Level
      • Goodwill
    • Registered IP Process >
      • Patent Process
  • What is IP?
    • The Invention
    • The Industrial Design
    • The Artistic Work
    • The Trade Mark
    • Get-up & Trade Dress
    • Urban Myths
  • Protecting IP
    • Protecting IP
    • Patents >
      • Novelty >
        • Disclosure
      • Inventiveness
      • Patentability
      • Specification
      • Patent Claims >
        • Reading claims
      • Patent Filing Process >
        • Priority Date
        • Provisional Spec
        • Overseas appln >
          • International PCT
        • Complete Spec
        • Examination
        • Opposition
        • Grant
    • Reg Designs
    • Copyright
    • Trade Marks
  • Resources
    • IP enables ... >
      • Transfer & Assignment
      • Licensing
      • Franchising
      • Partnerships
      • Venture Capital
      • Market Lead In
      • Easing in Products
      • Sideways expansion
      • Overseas expansion
    • Traps for the Unwary >
      • Commissioning
      • Confidentiality Agrmt
      • Unregistered TMs
      • Freedom to Operate
      • Employees
    • Exporting
    • Complementary TM
    • Conflicting Values
    • Conflicting Co-brands
    • Infringement
  • Coming...
    • Services we Provide
    • Protecting IA
    • Searching >
      • Prior Art