How to protect your ideas
Author Edward Callan
Draft of some of the Home Page content for Ideas Unlimited Website
Who We Are
Ideas Unlimited is an informal group of individuals who gather for
lunch Thursdays at the Beach House Restaurant in Cardiff by the Sea on
Highway 101 to discuss various ideas. We meet every Thursday except
for holidays.
Our meetings are open to the public.
Protecting Your Ideas
Although there is no limitation upon the ideas that we discuss, on
occasion someone will present an idea of an invention, a work of
authorship, or something else of potential commercial value for
discussion.
Persons presenting ideas for inventions are cautioned that such a
presentation may prevent the person from obtaining patent protection
for the invention in some foreign countries unless a patent
application is filed in the United States or some other country prior
to said presentation. This is because some foreign countries have an
“absolute novelty” requirement that in order for an invention to be
eligible for patent protection in such foreign country, the invention
must not have been divulged to the public anywhere in the world under
conditions of non-confidentiality prior to the filing date of the
first patent application that is filed for the invention either in
such foreign country or in some other country, such as the United
States, that is a member of an international patent treaty with said
foreign country.
It is recommended that a person planning to present an idea of a
potentially valuable invention, for which a patent application has not
been filed, should consult his/her patent attorney regarding the
subject matter discussed in foregoing paragraph.
Some ideas may be protectable under patent, copyright and trade
secret laws. General information regarding patent protection and
copyright registration in the United States may be accessed at
uspto.gov and copyright.gov.
It is recommended that one consult his/her attorney if he is
interested in obtaining patent, copyright and/or trade secret
protection for any particular invention, work of authorship and/or
trade secret.
Copies of US patents and published US patent applications can be
downloaded from pat2pdf.org upon entering the number of the patent or
publication.