International provisional patent application?
Our product is ready for manufacturing. i applied for a none-provisional application in my country. but i know this do not effect on other countries and also if i start selling product then other countries do not patent it as made public...
i want to apply provisional patent application in USA UK AU Germany France china Korea and Japan for more protection and make sure i can register my patent there later after manufacturing ...
can i do all it online as uspto.gov do ?
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Why didn't you apply for an international patent in your home country? Not a WIPO member? – Littleadv 12 years ago
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u can't first apply international. you need first register on ur own then u can make it international. but it take at least one year the status make clear. as we can't wait i asking is that possible protect my stuff with provisional patent application on all those countries ? is that easy ? – Ted 12 years ago
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don't tell me what I can or cannot, I know exactly what I **did**. If your country doesn't allow it, or your attorney wants to suck more fees out of you, that's a different issue. – Littleadv 12 years ago
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its possible without a patent first apply it to all countries ? PCT you mean ? – Ted 12 years ago
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Yes. If your country is a WIPO member, you can file an international patent. – Littleadv 12 years ago
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well i applied regular patent so forget it. now what i have to do ? – Ted 12 years ago
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I believe you should talk to the attorney you're working with and have the application converted to PCT, or add an additional PCT application. Going through USPTO won't help you if none of the inventors are US persons. – Littleadv 12 years ago
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i asked lawyer and country is not part of WIPO ... – Ted 12 years ago
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maybe someone needs to warn you that a WIPO patent is a big waste of money. Your small company is not going to be able to sue a company in a different country for exploiting your patent. Are you going to take your case to the World courts? – Frank 12 years ago
1 Answer
Let's go back to basics ... what are you trying to protect? The original purpose of a patent was to protect the small inventor who would be given time to negotiate manufacturing, financing and distribution. What a PCT does is set the clock ticking, you have certain hurdles at fixed intervals to apply in SELECTED countries.
Nobody can afford global patent (except the MNCs), one client estimated it would be 6 figures by time lawyer and renewal fees were added up. And I mean LARGE 6 figures. Instead you pick the ones that are at most risk of
- manufacturing base
- key distribution hubs (eg customs clearance) in Europe
- markets where want to eventually expand
The only major countries not belonging to PCT are Argentina, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Iran. BTW nearly everyone belongs to WIPO but not every country has ratified every treaty. Most people find that patents are just a line in the sand, you still have to work to erect the fence, doing business intelligence on competitors, perhaps reverse engineering to discover infringement, informing customs and keeping a legal team on hand. One of the big media barons had a famous remark that lawyers are like bull pitdogs, you keep them around to scare the heebeejeebees out of everyone else.
BTW ... if your product is successful, accept that others will try to copy it (like a lock on safe, only measured in delay). You just have to come up with the next big idea before that (aka continuous incremental innovation) like the Red Queen running as fast as possible just to stay in one spot.
