It used to be first to invent, though now it is first to file. If first to invent, a stunt like that would be impossible.
It used to be first to invent, though now it is first to file. If first to invent, a stunt like that would be impossible.
It has become simply a game.
There is a story about Alexander Bell getting the patent on the phone because his competitor (Gray), who filed his patent on the same day, stopped for lunch on the way to the patent office.
Always amazing to me that there were two patents for the phone filed on the same day.
No, that is not the issue. Under ‘first to invent’ the proof would have had to be provided that that was the case. In general terms, the same level of proof applies to show that the invention was not novel at the time of filing by a third party.
No one can obtain a valid patent under ‘first to file’ for something that was previously disclosed by public use or publication (other than in the 1 year grace period provided to the original inventor - 35 U.S.C. 102(b)).
As a patent holder myself of advanced electronic and communication patents, I DESPISE first-to-file. It advantages foreign government-funded research over the US model of companies and individual inventors.