Split an invention into multiple patents?

Question

For example, if I have an invention with different implements, can I spit it into multiple patents that each of them doesn't contain others information?

The reason may be to keep the competitor confused. For example, the competitor will think the scope of one patent is very narrow, while the other patents are kept in secret to gain advantages later.

One thing I can think of is some rules, e.g USA says that the inventor must reveal the best approach he knows. But since different implements are similar, without the best one, this can be avoided.

I think in practice it is easy to do, if the inventor can accept lying that other implements came to him at different time then that is normal, even there is a best approach. But what about the law if the inventor must be honest?

Another method I can think of is splitting the invention into multiple inventions by redefine the scope of the invention so they are not a single invention but multiple inventions.

Is there any obstacle for splitting a single invention into multiple independent patents without relating to each others?

Answer 1

You can play with the wording and scope of the patents, you might even be able to hide them a little, but a good patent search will most probably reveal them to your competitor after he knows of one of them.

And you have to be careful not to reveal anything in one patent that would impede one of the other patents from beeing granted.

If you are ready to invest the money for more than one application, you should talk to a patent attorney regarding the strategy, a good one will be able to help with this in the special case and tell you what makes sense. Even getting one patent made by a good attorney might be worth more and cost the same as getting/applying for a few "bad" patents.