Confidentiality
Section 4
Can I present at a conference?
If you disclose the key information about your invention or design
whether at a conference or elsewhere, it can stop you getting IP
protection. You may, however, be able to make some general statements
without disclosing your invention. Discuss this in advance with your IP
commercialisation organisation.
If you disclose your design, you will have 12 months to file the application.
Speak to your IP commercialisation organisation immediately.
If you disclose your invention, you may still be able to get patent protection
in the USA if you file the application within 12 months, but anyone will be
able to use your invention almost everywhere else in the world.
So if you are about to publish at a conference or elsewhere, speak to your
IP commercialisation organisation as early as possible. They will look to file
an application for a patent before publication, if the subject material has
good business prospects.
You can publish openly once a patent application has been filed. There can
be some advantage in waiting a little longer before publishing, in case any
claims of your patent are not accepted by the Intellectual Property Office.
These rejected aspects of your application can then only ever be protected
by confidentiality.
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