My company is currently developing software and we are interested in pursuing a patent for it.
My question is should I file patent it prior to completing the final version - we are about 1-2 months away from completion?
We want to have a patent in place prior to launch and I assume now would be a good time to do so? When is the best time do to this? Should I have done this already?
The patent system is essentially designed to encourage advancement in science and technology. The patent office expects the applicant of a patent to disclose information about the invention for which patent protection is sought, to an extent that a person with ordinary skill in the technology, to which the proposed invention relates, can use the provided information to make and use the proposed invention. This disclosure of information to the public would ideally enable others to explore improvements over existing technology, and thereby lead to advancement in science and technology. One of the requirements of a patent to be granted is 'sufficiency of disclosure' or 'enablement'. One of the important questions that inventors should ask themselves is whether they have sufficient information about the invention to enable a person skilled in the technology to which the invention relates, to make and use the proposed invention. If sufficient information is available, then the time might be right to apply for a patent. One the other hand, if sufficient information is not available, then the inventor should ideally work towards gathering/generating such information, so that the same can be provided in the patent application.
For further details please check the link below http://www.invntree.com/blogs/which-stage-should-i-apply-patent http://www.invntree.com/blogs/disclosure-requirements-for-software-patents
Vinay
It can take three years or more for a patent to issue. It is rare that people wait for patents to issue before they launch a product but very normal that they wait until the patents are filed. The downside of filing too soon is that you do not have a complete understanding of what the important, new, patentable nuggets are yet. Waiting too long and someone may beat you to it or your product launch might be held up.
