The new USPTO initiative appeared just a couple of days ago, but it seems to me that this is of interest not only before me. The current situation with the pandemic has long demanded accelerated action. I read back in the spring about various companies seeking to speed up the investment process, in cases where the innovation is directly related to the fight against the pandemic. As a rule, this concerned speeding up the interview process and making a decision on investment within 48 hours. The latest initiative of the Patent Department is a completely different level and approach. This is already an obvious change at the level of law. Of course, in the USPTO itself, in this case, it is immediately stipulated that this is an experiment that can last for a year, but can be interrupted earlier due to some external circumstances. The end of the pandemic is obviously meant. So far, it seems to me, it is too early to talk about this.
So what is this initiative. To make it more or less clear to people who are not very familiar with patent rules, I must first explain what provisional and non provisional applications are. The first application is preliminary. It is taken for a period of one year and after a year the validity is terminated. In order to claim your intellectual property rights in the future, you need to take already non provisional. However, it seems necessary is not only this. There is further clarification in that the owner of the intellectual property for this year must simply demonstrate that he is working on his invention. That is, if there is a further expansion of the patent base, or some utilitarian models are created within a year, the intellectual property right will still be preserved. The main thing is that there would be some kind of movement. This is obviously necessary to combat patent trolls. I think I got it right here.
So what is the new initiative? The provisional application cost is low. This is done on purpose, since it is understood that the inventor may be on a budget at the time of the invention. By the way, the low price of the application from the very beginning was the distinguishing feature of the American patent law. In European countries, the price of a patent application implied a certain high monetary qualification, for example, cutting off workers from the opportunity to invent, or rather to use the invention. I mean the history of the past centuries, when patent law was still in its infancy. What is happening now? The Provisional Application is essentially the first document that the inventor receives and which he can now show to the prospective investor. For a year, it is quite possible to get financial support and issue a non-provisional. This is a help or an opportunity to realize some invention with the smallest means. Obviously now it is assumed that some kind of radical remedy for Covid can be found by a person with no funds at all. This is quite possible. After all, applications are accepted from all over the world. And then the next step was taken. The Provisional application can now be made free of charge if the invention concerns the fight against COVID-19. In this case, one more condition applies. The application must be accessed on the USPTO page. As you know, applications are usually not published. This is done in order to pass full patent review. The term in this case is almost two years. Now, if the application is published, in principle, anyone can see it. It seems to me that there is nothing wrong with that. Lend-Lease immediately comes to mind.
https://medium.com/@SeregeSokolov/a-strange-toy-from-childhood-1217e0b449cd
