Re: Pros. and Cons. of Non-Publication of after 18 months

On 29 Nov 2003 13:45:49 -0800, silver8 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Can some one summarize the pros. and cons. of requesting
> Non-Publication after 18 months of priority date. Except for the
> factors of $300 fee and the International filling.
> 
> Pros. keep the invention secrecy.

All of the pros I can think of are based on the loss of advantage
of keeping both the invention and associated knowledge (you are
working in a given technical area, you are seeking a patent, etc) a 
secret.

> 
> Cons. ?

You've alluded to the problem with International filing without
rescinding your non-publication request. 

The major incentive for electing publication is that publication of 
the application may create an opportunity to seek remedies for infringement 
dating back to the date of publication.   It depends on whether the
claims being infringed were actually in the patent when it was published.

This can be a major benefit if you are patenting subject matter for which
the PTO backlog is long, but entities are infringing now.

Isaac