Patent It Yourself - PDF Archive

56 | Patent it YOURSELF
results obtained, if any. While it might better be called an
“Invention Record,” in the arcane world of patents it’s called
a “disclosure,” since an inventor often uses it to disclose an
invention to others to get their opinion, have them develop
it, and show what progress is being made. These entries
should be made on a separate sheet of paper that has no
other information on it except details of your invention and
your name and address. For your convenience, Form 3-2 in
Appendix 7 provides an Invention Disclosure form, and Fig.
3C illustrates how the form should be completed to record
conception.
Since an Invention Disclosure isn’t bound, the writing on
it can, and preferably should, be printed or typed. But if you
do write rather than type, just make sure your handwriting
is legible. A sheet of professional or personal letterhead
(if you have it) is suitable for an Invention Disclosure.
Otherwise print your name, address, and telephone number
at the top (or bottom, after your signature). Business
letterhead is okay if the invention is to be owned by your
business. If the disclosure runs to more than one page, you
should write the title of your invention on the second and
each succeeding page, followed by the word “continued,”
numbering each page and indicating the total number of
pages of the entire disclosure—for example, “Page 1 of 3.”
As before, the description of your invention should be
signed and dated by you, marked “The above confidential
information is Witnessed and Understood,” and signed
and dated, preferably by two witnesses, who, as before, are
technically competent to understand your invention and
who actually do understand and have witnessed the subject
matter you have entered on your Invention Disclosure. (See
Section F5, above.) If you use more than one page, each
should be signed and dated by both the inventor and the
witnesses.
As with the notebook, if you conceive of an invention
on one date and build and test the invention later, you
should make two separate invention disclosures—one to
record conception and the second to record the building
and testing. The second should refer to the first, and both
should be signed and dated by you and the witnesses. Refer
to Section F, above, to learn how to record building and
testing. I haven’t provided an example of an Invention
Disclosure completed to show building and testing, but it
would be similar to the notebook entry to record building
and testing (Fig. 3B set out in Section F, above).
Also, as with the notebook, keep the disclosure in a safe
place and use it as discussed in Section F6, above.
What Happened to the Document
Disclosure Program?
Readers of previous editions may wonder why there is
no mention of the PTO’s Document Disclosure Program
(DDP). (The DDP was a method of documenting
conception for inventors who did not want to rely on
witnesses.) In 2007, the PTO discontinued the program.
I disagree with this action because the DDP was very
useful to inventors who wanted to document conception
and had no available witnesses. Inventors are thus forced
to rely on the traditional methods of documenting
conception by making an invention disclosure or notebook
record of the invention, signing and dating it, and having
it witnessed.
Tip
If you’ve conceived of or have effectively built and
tested your invention on a computer, you must print out a
hard copy on paper so that you and your witness can sign it
properly. Computer records are too impermanent to be given
legal credibility.
EXAMPLE: Nellie Nerdle, while mousing around with a
drawing program on her XYZ-98000, puts some triangles,
ovals, and bars together and comes up with a new
brassiere design. She not only saves it on her hard disk (or
memory stick) and makes a backup copy, but also makes
a paper printout, signs and dates it, writes “Witnessed and
Understood:” below her signature, and has her friends,
Paul Pocket protector and Gretchen Guru, sign and date
as witnesses so that she’ll have a permanent, signed, and
dated hard copy of her invention.
H. The Provisional Patent Application—
A Substitute for Building and Testing,
With Some Disadvantages
CAUTION
For reasons explained in Section E, above, it’s very
important to build and test your invention as soon as possible.
If you haven’t read that section yet, do so now.
Suppose you don’t have the facilities, skill, or time to build
and test your invention, and you are not in a position to file