How do I protect my idea if my patent is rejected?
The patent clerk has my idea now, and he can probably write one up... how do I deal with that?
2 Answers
The administrative staff and examiners at the USPTO are not going to steal your idea. There are several reasons not to worry. One is that they are prohibited from acquiring any ownership rights to a patent while employed there other than by inheritance. Also your application is in the system. There is no way to erase it from the system so there is an electronic "paper trail".
answered Mar 19, 2013 at 16:50
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It is u r brain or openweb– user3417Commented Mar 21, 2013 at 0:20
Your problem is if the patent was published. Then everyone knows about it. It is the bargain any patent holder makes that in exchange for disclosure you may get a limited monopoly. PTO is not going to be your concern.
The concern is anyone who reads your published application.
See there is a reason to tease out the idea and see what the art looks like before disclosing everything. YOu may want to try doing that in the future by pointing to issued patents and then trying to see if people will identify additional art.
