

Ask HN: Should I Be Fully Open About a Patentable Physical Technology Idea? - lordvon

Let&#x27;s just say I invented the VIRES wing idea (link: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.viresaero.com&#x2F;). That is to say it is a physical technology invention that would be easily understood for someone in aerospace (many people have probably thought of it), but maybe clever in application or execution (I don&#x27;t know if VIRES is but let&#x27;s assume so). Should I talk freely to startup incubators in the hopes of getting somewhere or evolving the idea? Should I be afraid of someone with more resources building a prototype before I can, or patenting it, etc.? If you have any &quot;credentials&quot; or supporting anecdotes for your answer please state so. Of course I welcome everyone&#x27;s opinions. Thanks for all of your input.<p>I am asking this question because of the relatively new (a few years old) patent law regarding first-to-file. If we were still under first-to-invent, I would go ahead, keeping good records of my communications on the idea.
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lutusp
> Should I be afraid of someone with more resources building a prototype
> before I can, or patenting it, etc.?

In a word, yes. The U.S. Patent system has recently changed from a first-to-
invent rule, to a first-to-file rule. In some cases this may mean that someone
can take your idea and file it is his own. It's not supposed to work that way,
and there are various safeguards, but the possibility exists that someone
could simply take your idea and claim it as his own.

[http://www.blankrome.com/index.cfm?contentID=37&itemID=2884](http://www.blankrome.com/index.cfm?contentID=37&itemID=2884)

The bottom line is, if you have an idea you think may be patentable, you
should file it before revealing it to anyone.

~~~
lordvon
Thank you for your input. I am aware of the relatively new law change, and I
should have mentioned it in the question (I edited it so that it is now). It
is actually the reason I am asking. If we were still first-to-invent, I would
go ahead and discuss away with any incubator I wanted, making sure to keep
good records of my communications.

Filing presents two obstacles: time limit and cost. Filing a full patent
requires lots of money, and filing a provisional patent gives you only a year
to choose whether to file a full patent, or the idea is forever unpatentable.

It is really constricting to have to decide these things before being able to
talk freely about it.

~~~
throwawaykf05
IANAL so be sure to confirm this with a real patent attorney, but...

 _>... or the idea is forever unpatentable._

As I understand it, this is incorrect. Provisional patents, unless followed up
by a non-provisional filing within a year, are never published and never
searched and and never considered as prior art, or as anything, going forward.
They may as well not exist, since typically nobody even looks at them unless a
proper non-provisional is filed. You can very well file a patent, or heck, yet
another provisional on the same idea (resulting in a new priority date, of
course). The risk you run is somebody else filing on, or simply describing,
that invention in the interim, in which case you lose rights to claim as your
own in the new first-to-file regime.

Edit: I completely understand your hesitation, as it often takes many years to
bring even a small innovation to the market, so the choice is hard. That said,
a provisional can cost as little as $65 if you qualify as a microentity and
file it yourself. All you need is to file a detailed description, and let a
real attorney / agent draft the non-provisional if you decide to convert. But
be sure to be excruciatingly detailed about _every_ aspect of your invention,
else it can limit what you claim in the non-provisional. My view is, for less
than a hundred bucks, it may be worth filing one just in case.

