Novel ideas involve lots of inspiration and years of effort to know if they would actually work. Finally, on reaching the ‘Eureka!’ moment, inventors tend to get excited about sharing it with the world.
This digital era allows sharing to millions of people with a single click. Will it affect the patentability of the invention? It is time to think if our ideas are patentable if we share them in the public domain.
The Intellectual Property Office grants patents to encourage new technology, development, and scientific research. There are three checks that we have to clearly understand and ensure before filing a patent. The ideas must be new, useful, and not obvious.
The idea should be ‘new’ means it should not be known to the public. There should not be any publications, videos, or articles about the idea. This spoils the novelty of the idea. So, it is a big ‘No’ if you are looking to share your idea in any form of seminars, conferences, or social media platforms.
One such example is when the US Patent Office rejected the patenting of turmeric for healing wounds. This is because turmeric is a traditional remedy used for healing for centuries in India. Therefore, the patent was rejected because it lacked novelty.
Additionally, organizations should be careful not to disclose any details of their idea through the following modes as well:
1. Distributing marketing and sales materials such as pamphlets, brochures, etc.,
2. Revealing the idea in conferences and trade shows to add merit to the organization,
3. Displaying the idea in the form of text or video on your website and other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.,
4. Organizing demos and pilot projects with investors.
The patent office can also reject the idea if it is too obvious. In other words, it calls the idea a lack of inventiveness. This can also occur as a consequence of sharing your ideas in the public domain. Sometimes, there are chances for people in the same field to figure out how to design or implement it based on your idea. Unfortunately, if other experts claim your idea was too obvious, your idea may not be patentable.
Are NDAs the key?
It is difficult to keep your idea undercover under all circumstances. There are situations where you may have to explain it to potential investors or the scientific community. Some inventors diligently opt for signing a Non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the investors before proceeding with discussion. In India, the NDAs are valid for one year, within which you have to file a patent application. However, it is not applicable in other countries. Besides, clients may take advantage of a poorly-drafted NDA. Hence, we must understand that NDAs do not offer full protection from your invention going public.
The solution
Ideally, you can file a provisional patent application before disclosing your idea in public domains. It is like a preliminary application before filing the actual patent. This would give you a prior filing date and also protect your idea from being copied. Therefore, you will have to disclose all details during the provisional application. As a result, one will have ample time to device the claims without worrying about the ownership of the invention. Furthermore, provisional applications will receive the ‘patent applied’ or ‘patent pending’ tag. This will add credibility to your idea when you pitch it to investors.
One must not lose the patentability of their idea in a rush to bring it out to the world or to acquire monetary benefits. Hence, always think twice before posting or sharing it in the public domain. You can always seek the guidance of patent experts to help you navigate through these nuances.