Are there any restrictions on how long it takes to file for us patents after an invention has been made public or sold commercially?

The patent application must be filed before any public disclosure of an invention to preserve international patent rights and must be filed within one year of the date of official publication or public use to preserve the U.S. UU. Utility and reissue patents are issued within about four weeks of the payment of the issuance fee, and the Office receives any required publication fee. A patent number and issue date will be assigned to the application and an issuance notification will be sent by mail once the USPTO has paid and processed the issuance fee.

The page may be temporarily unavailable, has been removed or renamed, or may no longer exist. An official website of the United States Government Patent Rights: Government Ownership (December 2000 A) Definitions. As used in this clause, “invention” means any invention or discovery that is or can be patentable or otherwise protected under U.S. Title 35.

Code or any plant variety that is or can be protected under the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U, S, C. By object invention we mean any invention of the contractor made in the performance of work under this contract. The contractor shall assign to the government around the world a title of invention in question, except to the extent that the rights are preserved under paragraphs (b) (and (d) of this clause. I) The contractor, or an employee-inventor, after consulting the contractor, may request rights greater than the non-exclusive license provided for in paragraph (d) of this clause.

The request for greater rights must be submitted to the Procurement Officer at the time of the first disclosure of the invention in question in accordance with paragraph (e) (of this clause), or no later than 8 months later, unless the Procurement Officer authorizes in writing a longer period for good cause that the contractor can demonstrate in writing. Each determination of greater rights under this contract will normally be subject to paragraph (c) of this clause and to such reservations and conditions as the agency deems appropriate. Ii) Upon request, the contractor will provide the filing date, the serial number and title, a copy of the patent application (including an English version if filed in a language other than English) and the patent number and the date of issue of any invention in question in any country where the contractor has retained the title. (Iii) Upon request, the contractor shall grant the agency an irrevocable power to inspect and make copies of the patent application file.

C) Minimum rights acquired by the Government. I) The Government shall have a non-exclusive, non-transferable, irrevocable and paid license to practice or have practiced for or on its behalf the invention in question throughout the world. Ii) The agency has the right to require licenses in accordance with 35 U, S, C. (Iii) Upon request, the contractor shall submit periodic reports no more than once a year on the use or efforts to obtain the use of an invention in question by the contractor or its licensees or assigns.

The reports shall include information on the status of the development, the date of the first sale or commercial use, the gross royalties received by the contractor, and any other data and information that the agency may reasonably specify. The contractor will also provide any additional reports requested by the agency in connection with any entry procedure undertaken by the agency in accordance with paragraph (c) (ii) of this clause. To the extent that the contractor, its licensees or assigns consider the data or information provided under this section to be privileged and confidential, the agency, to the extent permitted by law, will not disclose such information to persons outside the Government. Iv) When licensing an invention in question, the contractor must: A) ensure that no royalties are charged for acquisitions involving government funds, including funds derived from a Government military assistance program or otherwise derived through the Government; B) reimburse any amount received as royalties for an invention in question in acquisitions for or on behalf of the Government; C) Arrange for this reimbursement in any instrument that transfers the rights to the invention in question to any party.

V) When transferring rights to an invention in question, the contractor shall guarantee the rights of the Government set out in paragraphs (c) (i) to (c) (iv) of this clause. Nothing contained in paragraph (c) of this clause shall be considered to grant the Government rights over any invention other than the invention in question. D) Minimum rights for the contractor. The agency may revoke or modify the contractor's license to the extent necessary to achieve a rapid practical application of the invention in question in a particular country, in accordance with the procedures of FAR 27.302 (i) (i) and 27.304-1 (f).

When the Government decides not to apply for a patent in any foreign country, the contractor retains the rights in that foreign country to apply for a patent, subject to the rights of the Government set out in paragraph (c) (of this clause). E) Identification, disclosure and reporting of the invention. The contractor shall disclose each invention in question in writing to the contracting officer within 2 months after the inventor discloses it in writing to the contracting staff responsible for patent issues or, if earlier, within 6 months after the contractor realizes that the invention in question has been made, but in any case before its sale (that is,. The disclosure will identify the contract under which the invention in question was made and the inventors.

It should be sufficiently complete in terms of technical details to convey a clear understanding of the present invention. The disclosure will also identify any publication, sale, or public use of the invention in question and whether a manuscript describing the invention in question has been submitted for publication and, if so, whether it has been accepted for publication. In addition, after its disclosure to the agency, the contractor shall promptly notify the contracting officer of the acceptance of any manuscript describing the invention in question for publication and any other manuscript that is for sale or public use. I) Interim reports every 12 months (or a longer period, as specified by the contracting officer) from the date of the contract, listing the inventions subject during that period and stating that all of the inventions in question have been disclosed (or that there are none) and that the procedures required in paragraph (e) (of this clause) have been followed.

Ii) A final report, within 3 months after the completion of the contracted work, listing all the subject inventions or stating that there were none, and a list of all subcontracts at any level that contain a patent rights clause or that declare that there was none. Subject to FAR 27.302 (i), the contractor agrees that the Government may duplicate and disclose the disclosures of the invention in question and all other reports and documents submitted or required to be submitted pursuant to this clause. F) Examination of records related to inventions. The contracting officer or any authorized representative shall have the right, up to 3 years after the final payment under this contract, to examine any book (including laboratory notebooks), records and documents of the contractor related to the conception or first actual reduction to the practice of inventions in the same field of technology as the work under this contract to determine if: I) Any invention is an object of invention; ii) The contractor has established and maintains the procedures required in the paragraphs (e) (and (e) (of this clause; and Iii) The The contractor and its inventors have complied with the procedures.

The contractor shall disclose to the contracting officer, for the determination of property rights, any undeclared invention that the contracting officer considers may be an invention in question. Any examination of the records pursuant to paragraph (f) of this clause shall be subject to appropriate conditions to protect the confidentiality of the information in question. G) Withholding payment. This paragraph does not apply to subcontracts.

The contracting officer shall retain the reserve or balance until the contracting officer has determined that the contractor has rectified the existing deficiencies and has provided all the reports, disclosures and other information required in this clause. The contracting officer will not make the final payment under this contract before the contractor delivers to the contracting officer, as required by this clause, all the disclosures of the inventions in question, an acceptable final report and all the necessary confirmation instruments. The Recruiting Officer may reduce or increase the amounts withheld to the authorized maximum. The contracting officer shall not withhold any amount under this paragraph as long as the amount specified in this paragraph is retained under other provisions of the contract.

The withholding of any amount or subsequent payment shall not be interpreted as a waiver of any governmental right. H) Preference for the United States industry. Unless otherwise provided, neither the contractor nor any assignee shall grant any person the exclusive right to use or sell any invention in question in the United States, unless the person agrees that any product that incorporates the invention in question or that is produced using the invention in question will be substantially manufactured in the United States. However, in individual cases, the agency may waive the requirement if the contractor or the assignee demonstrates that reasonable but unsuccessful efforts have been made to grant licenses under similar terms to potential licensees who would likely manufacture substantially in the United States or that, under the circumstances, domestic manufacturing is not commercially feasible.

In the event that a potential subcontractor refuses to accept the clause, the contractor: in subcontracts at any level, the agency, the subcontractor and the contractor agree that the mutual obligations of the parties created by the patent rights clause constitute a contract between the subcontractor and the agency with respect to the matters covered by this clause. The contractor shall promptly notify the contracting officer in writing of the award of any subcontract at any level containing a patent rights clause, identifying the subcontractor, the applicable patent rights clause, the work to be performed under the subcontract, and the award and estimated completion dates. At the request of the contracting officer, the contractor shall provide a copy of such subcontract and, no more than once a year, a list of the subcontracts that have been awarded. The agency reserves the right to unilaterally modify this contract to identify specific international treaties or agreements concluded by the Government before or after the effective date of this contract, and to assert any licenses or other rights that are necessary for the Government to comply with its obligations to foreign governments, its nationals and international organizations under international treaties or agreements with respect to the inventions in question made after the date of the amendment.

An official website of the General Services Administration. Each program is designed to advance the processing of a patent application and to provide assistance to applicants. The USPTO's patent application initiatives timeline shows several programs and initiatives that are available to applicants during each phase of the application process. The USPTO does not maintain double correspondence with an applicant and a patent professional (37 CFR 1.3).

Plant patents can be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any new and different plant variety. The contractor is hereby granted a revocable, non-exclusive, paid license on every patent application filed in any country on an invention in question and any resulting patent to which the Government obtains the title, unless the contractor fails to disclose the invention in question within the time limits specified in paragraph (e) (of this clause). Include any references to previous patents, the names of the inventors, specifications and statements (to name a few). Utility patents can be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture or composition of materials, or any new and useful improvement therein.

See the Patent Data Visualization Center for an overall average estimate of the actions of the first office and the total slope. Use EFS-Web, the USPTO's electronic patent filing system, to file utility patent applications, provisional applications, and many other types of correspondence from the Office to the USPTO via the Internet. The contractor shall establish and maintain active and effective procedures to educate its employees to ensure that the inventions in question are quickly identified and disclosed to the contracting personnel responsible for patent issues. .

Mitchell Michniak
Mitchell Michniak

Hipster-friendly coffeeaholic. Total coffee junkie. Subtly charming pop culture specialist. Internet scholar. Certified tv aficionado.

Leave a Comment

All fileds with * are required