How does public disclosure affect the ability to protect IP and what can an inventor do to avoid killing his patent?
United States patent law permits an inventor to obtain a patent if a patent application is filed within one year of the date of the first publication, abstract, conference presentation or any other public use that discloses the invention. If an invention is disclosed more than one year before a patent application is made, the disclosure will be considered prior art and the invention will not be patentable.