I have searched the internet and cannot find the answer. Let's say companyA files a provisional patent for an unique feature on its website and puts "patent pending" clause on its website. Then CompanyB a month later comes up w/ the idea for the same feature and stumbles upon companyA's website where they saw the same feature and the "patent pending" phrase, so companyB said "man I better make sure companyA has not already filed a patent for this feature" But the problem is the patent application is not published until 18 months from the date it's first filed. So companyB cannot get any information on what this "patent pending" is referring to for 1 and half year!!! Dilemma! If companyB decides to continue to go with the feature, it risk the possibility of the feature is being patented by companyA and risk getting sued by companyA once it gets the patent. But if companyB plays it safe and not implement this feature then it risk the possibility that this "patent pending" phrase is actually for another total unrelated feature. As a result, innovation is stopped because companyB incorrectly played safe and did not implement this feature mistakenly thinking companyA must have applied patent for it. The bottom line is, how can any potential inventor make sure their invention is not infringing another patent if the application is not published for 18 months? This is like a "black hole" period of 1.5 years where you don't know what patent the other person is applying. So if I continue w/ the idea, then found out 18 months later the other guy has applied for the same patent, then I just wasted months of R&D and biz development and now have to give up. But if I give up now, there is always a thought that maybe the other did not apply patent for this particular feature, maybe he was talking about some totally unrelated idea. Any thoughts? I am sure this is a common problem but I can't find the answer on google.
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Topic: patent search (Read 540 times)
