Does anyone know of something like a github for patents? somewhere where you can publish a granted or provisional patent and designate it as open source, enabling others to fork it or use it in their own open source inventions. the repository would become a large source of searchable prior art that people trying to patent other things in the future would not be able to protect, thus keeping the ideas open for society.
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Patents and patent applications are published anyways– user18033Commented Dec 9, 2018 at 10:45
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If what you want to do is open source an idea or invention, then all you need to do is publish it. No need to go through the time and expense of patenting. I'd guess something like arxiv.org (but for inventions) would be better than Github which is much more aligned to software development. By the way, there is no such thing as a provisional patent. Only provisional applications which, by themselves, never become patents.– Eric SCommented Dec 9, 2018 at 15:11
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thanks @EricShain - I will check out arxiv.org some reading up shows that USPTO defines it as a PPA (provisional patent application) and states you can use the term "patent pending" ie you provisionally have a patent pending that you have applied for. doesn't seem to be a "provisional application". just my take on it from here link– Andre BrownCommented Dec 10, 2018 at 2:14
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1no, they don't search provisionals that aren't published. For all it's worth, they don't even count as prior art unless subsequently published because of having been converted or claimed priority to.– user18033Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 11:24
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2Possible duplicate of Best places to record ideas as prior art to avoid later patents (UK/US)– Eric SCommented Dec 10, 2018 at 18:14
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2 Answers
Statutory invention registrations (SIR) were used by applicants in past for publishing patent applications on which they no longer felt they could get patents. By publishing the patent applications, they helped ensure that the inventions were in the public domain and no one else could subsequently get a patent on them, as a SIR could be applied as prior art against other patent applications in the same manner as a patent. Such SIR are designated with H/H1 code followed by the number.
Statutory invention registrations (SIR) are no longer available under US. law since the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) entered into force in 2013.Before the law has been passed in there was a provision under U.S.C. 157 where a statutory invention registration (SIR) was a publication of an invention by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which was made at the request of the applicant (i.e. inventor(s) or assignee(s)).
AS most patent applications filed in the US would been published after a statutory 18 months period after they were filed. These published patent applications serve a similar purpose to a statutory invention registration. Once an application is published, an inventor need only let their application go abandoned in order to give up their right to a patent and dedicate the invention to the public.
I believe this question is a duplicate of this question. But since it hasn't been flagged, I'll list the best options found in that answer.