Question
I have spent seven months developing a prototype for a new kind of UAV, including some original software components. I have not applied for patents or copyright. I would now like to commercialize the UAV via a crowdfunding platform to gain a customer base and finance some of the final steps regarding product design and assembly. My question is now, do I "risk" any of my Intellectual Property by selling the prototype including the software on a crowdfunding platform?
Answers: 2 public & 0 private
Absolutely. You need to file your patent application, even a provisional patent application, before you sell your prototype. This will preserve your US domestic patent rights as well as your foreign patent rights. If it is a prototype and you contemplate "improving" it, you are probably best filing a provisional patent application - note that the provisional application must still be as complete, accurate, and thorough as a non-provisional application so as to qualify as an enabling disclosure and to provide priority for your future-filed non-provisional application. The non-provisional application, as well as a PCT application, which effectively opens the door to most foreign countries, must be filed within one year of your provisional application filing. If you do make improvements, you can file another provisional application for the improvement and then you must still file your non-provisional application within one year of your filing of your first provisional application. For the second provisional application, you can simply add new disclosure to your first provisional application, and then your non-provisional application can effectively be your second provisional application. You need to file the non-provisional and/or PCT application(s) because a provisional application is never examined and will never, by itself, lead to a patent - it simply establishes a priority date so as to provide you with the earliest date possible for your UAV prototype filed in the patent office relative to any other patent application for a similar invention filed by someone else.
I also recommend securing IP protection, by copyright and/or a provisional patent application, prior to publicly disclosing your invention.
If you decide to disclose the invention prior to filing a patent application you do not necessarily lose your IP rights, but it is risky. The US patent law (35 USC 102) afford you with a 1 year grace period: as long as you file a patent application within a year of making your invention public, your own disclosure (subject to the provisions of the law) will not be used against you as prior art.
A competitor's disclosure however may be used as prior art against you, unless it is identical to your invention. So, if someone improved or altered your invention following the crowd funding disclosure, and filed a patent application before you do, it may affect your chances of receiving a patent.
Also, since some other jurisdictions do not recognize a grace period for disclosure prior to filing, such disclosure may compromise your chances for foreign patent rights.
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