Generally, U.S. non-provisional patent applications are published at roughly 18 months after their effective filing date. Beginning on its publication date, a copy of a published application can be obtained at www.uspto.gov/patft/ or www.freepatentsonline.com by entering the publication number.
Patent publications (i.e., published patent applications and granted patents) can serve at least 3 primary purposes:
- Teach how to implement new concepts;
- Warn others of the bounds of your company’s innovative “turf”; and
- Guide your company in how to avoid trespassing on a competitor’s protected turf.
As you might expect, patent publications form the single largest and most thorough collection of innovation-describing publications. Often, they can hint to the world at large what your company knows, suggesting both the breadth and depth of its technical competence, innovative thinking, and potential value.
Frequently, deals involving commercialization of patent protected concepts are also dependent on the transfer or disclosure of the associated know-how and/or trade secrets. Thus, the publication of your company’s patent applications and patents can serve as advertisements that it holds relevant, yet secret, know-how for implementing the claimed concepts, and that it is potentially willing to sell and/or license both the patent rights and the corresponding know-how to others who want to commercialize them.