Publishing Patent Applications

Publishing your patent application – You’ve come up with an invention and you want to protect it right away, so you file a patent application. What if someone you showed your invention immediately starts copying it? One way to start accumulating rights is to request immediate and early publication. Publishing it allows you to get provisional rights meaning if the patent issues with the claim substantially the same as the one published, you are entitled to a reasonable royalty from the time the infringer had actual notice of the application under 35 USC 154(d). One caveat, if you’re interested in seeking foreign patents, make sure you file them within one year of your application. If you’re an inventor with an application on file and this situation applies to you, ask your patent attorney to request early publication. Patent law on provisional rights can be found here: