Why might you lose your right to a patent?

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Office must use the same standards of patentability in the examination of every claim regardless of whether it involves an artwork that is “newly developed,” “complex,” “competitive” or “crowded.” Standards typically include patent eligible, nonobvious, useful, novel and enabled. That said, just because a claim recounts, in detail, all the features of an invention does not mean the Office will allow the claim. It also does not mean the Office will allow a person to keep a patent if it already granted one. If you lost your right to a patent in California, there may be several reasons why. Below are just a few of them.

If you filed a patent for an artwork that a foreign publication, whose publication was prior to your filing date, described or printed, the Office will reject your application or revoke your prior approval. If others knew of or used the invention prior to the date you filed for the patent, the same outcome may occur.

If you abandoned the invention, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may revoke your patent. You may experience the same outcome if the Office discovers that you yourself did not invent the subject matter for which you seek a patent.

If your invention is one that a printed publication in this or a foreign county described in detail or that was for sale or made available for public use more than one year before the date of your application, the Office may deny your application or revoke your patent. The same may hold true if your invention was the material of an inventor’s certification, or first patented or set to be patented in a foreign country, more than one year prior to your filing of the application in the United States.

The content in this post is for informational use only. It should not be interpreted as legal advice.