Deadline for Filing a United States Patent Application

      o United States Patent can validly issue on an invention if, more than one year before the filing of the application for patent, the invention was disclosed in a printed publication in any country, or was on sale or in non-experimental public use or commercial use in the United States. If you have used your invention in public, it will be necessary for you to discuss the circumstances of your use of the invention with your patent attorney in order to determine if your use can be characterized as experimental.

      Care should be taken to assure that a United States patent application is filed in the United States within one year of the time that the invention is first publicly used or sold. It is best to file the application before making the invention public at all to assure yourself complete protection.