prendrefeu wrote:milroy wrote:Patent Applications are not usually published until 18 months after filing. You may be able to determine that an application has been filed before then, but you won't be able to see details.
Really?
The most recent I've been reading (not-cycling related) were filed in late December 2010. That's 5 months.
Perhaps we may not see publications immediately, but where are you getting the 18 month estimate?
Milroy is correct. Two general points: (1) You must look at the earliest priority date claimed, not the filing date for the particular application published. For example, the published application may have been filed off of an earlier provisional application, which would create the earlier priority date to which you would look back 18 months. (2) The applicant can request earlier publication (such as when they believe there will be potentially infringing devices on the market), though this seems to be rarely requested.
35 U.S.C. 122(b) sets out the 18 month window as follows:
(b) PUBLICATION.-
(1) IN GENERAL.-
(A) Subject to paragraph (2), each application for a patent shall be published, in accordance with procedures determined by the Director, promptly after the expiration of a period of 18 months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under this title. At the request of the applicant, an application may be published earlier than the end of such 18-month period.
(B) No information concerning published patent applications shall be made available to the public except as the Director determines.
(C) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a determination by the Director to release or not to release information concerning a published patent application shall be final and nonreviewable.
(2) EXCEPTIONS.-
(A) An application shall not be published if that application is-
(i) no longer pending;
(ii) subject to a secrecy order under section 181 of this title;
(iii) a provisional application filed under section 111(b) of this title; or
(iv) an application for a design patent filed under chapter 16 of this title.
(B)
(i) If an applicant makes a request upon filing, certifying that the invention disclosed in the application has not and will not be the subject of an application filed in another country, or under a multilateral international agreement, that requires publication of applications 18 months after filing, the application shall not be published as provided in paragraph (1).
(ii) An applicant may rescind a request made under clause (i) at any time.
(iii) An applicant who has made a request under clause (i) but who subsequently files, in a foreign country or under a multilateral international agreement specified in clause (i), an application directed to the invention disclosed in the application filed in the Patent and Trademark Office, shall notify the Director of such filing not later than 45 days after the date of the filing of such foreign or international application. A failure of the applicant to provide such notice within the prescribed period shall result in the application being regarded as abandoned, unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Director that the delay in submitting the notice was unintentional.
(iv) If an applicant rescinds a request made under clause (i) or notifies the Director that an application was filed in a foreign country or under a multilateral international agreement specified in clause (i), the application shall be published in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (1) on or as soon as is practical after the date that is specified in clause (i).
(v) If an applicant has filed applications in one or more foreign countries, directly or through a multilateral international agreement, and such foreign filed applications corresponding to an application filed in the Patent and Trademark Office or the description of the invention in such foreign filed applications is less extensive than the application or description of the invention in the application filed in the Patent and Trademark Office, the applicant may submit a redacted copy of the application filed in the Patent and Trademark Office eliminating any part or description of the invention in such application that is not also contained in any of the corresponding applications filed in a foreign country. The Director may only publish the redacted copy of the application unless the redacted copy of the application is not received within 16 months after the earliest effective filing date for which a benefit is sought under this title. The provisions of section 154(d) shall not apply to a claim if the description of the invention published in the redacted application filed under this clause with respect to the claim does not enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the subject matter of the claim.
It seems Raphael Schlanger is a big fan of carbon. I'm curious to see what will come of it. That Cannondale crank idea looks interesting but I have yet to see it come to fruition. I use Espacenet to search for patents.
