Re:Ask HN: Any free way to file a patent?
by rprasad on Sunday July 11, 2010 @02:14PM
(#1505879)
Actually, any prior art is prior art, whether or not it is "registered". Patent law doesn't require registration or publication with a patent-related agency or paper. It merely requires prior art that is publicly accessible or known.
The point of registering with a publicly known entity like the WGA is that it may prove a date for the prior art.
The specific issue here is whether the WGA's registry is sufficiently accessible that it constitutes a "public" publication.
The answer depends on what exactly is registered, and whether the idea is ever made public (i.e., internet blog, scholastic paper, conference presentation, etc) or is privately known to the persons seeking the patent (i.e., pitching this very idea to the people who later try to patent something based on your prior art, etc).
The WGA registry provides proof that something was registered on a given date, but does not provide a public search engine for searching the contents of registered works. So, by itself, the WGA registration would not provide any benefit unless you're trying to show that the patent-seeker had private knowledge of your prior art on a given date.
The point of registering with a publicly known entity like the WGA is that it may prove a date for the prior art.
The specific issue here is whether the WGA's registry is sufficiently accessible that it constitutes a "public" publication.
The answer depends on what exactly is registered, and whether the idea is ever made public (i.e., internet blog, scholastic paper, conference presentation, etc) or is privately known to the persons seeking the patent (i.e., pitching this very idea to the people who later try to patent something based on your prior art, etc).
The WGA registry provides proof that something was registered on a given date, but does not provide a public search engine for searching the contents of registered works. So, by itself, the WGA registration would not provide any benefit unless you're trying to show that the patent-seeker had private knowledge of your prior art on a given date.