Are Your Poster Presentations Jeopardizing Your Patent Rights?
By: KARA K. FAIRBAIRN
March 2005
Have you ever presented your ideas at a tradeshow using a poster presentation? If so, you may have jeopardized your patent rights.
Under U.S. patent law, once you disclose an idea in a “printed publication” distributed in the U.S. or a foreign country, you have one year from the date of disclosure to file a patent application on that idea. If you fail to do so, you will forever lose your patent rights to that idea.
Also, while the U.S. gives this one-year grace period to file an application, most foreign countries do not. In those countries, if you disclose your idea in a “printed publication” any time before filing a patent application, you will lose your patent rights.
Therefore, it is important to be aware of what type of disclosures constitute a “printed publication.”
Poster Presentations Are Now Considered Printed Publications.
The Federal Circuit recently held that poster presentations at scientific meetings may be “printed publications.” In re Carol F. Klopfenstein and John L. Brent, Jr., Slip Op. No. 03-1583 (Fed. Cir. August 18, 2004). In this case, a slide presentation was printed and pasted on a poster board displayed at two scientific meetings. No copies of the presentation were distributed and no disclaimers were made prohibiting copying the presentation.
In determining whether the presentation was a “printed publication,” the court looked at how available the poster was to skilled artisans.
The court held this poster presentation to be readily available because, among other things, the presentation was displayed for several hours at a time, there were no disclaimers forbidding copying the material, and it was easy to copy the material as it was left unguarded for periods of time.
Since the presentation was considered available, the court held it to be a “printed publication.”
Protect your Patent Rights from being Jeopardized by Poster Presentations.
The most prudent way to protect your patent rights in all countries is to file a patent application on your idea before making any type of disclosure. You might consider having your patent counsel file a provisional patent application, which is relatively cheap and easy to prepare compared to other types of patent applications. This will preserve your global patent rights and you can then freely present or market those ideas in any desired fashion.
If you are unable to file an application before giving a poster presentation, you may be able to create a presentation that alludes generally to the inventive subject matter without actually disclosing what the invention is. Have your presentation reviewed by your patent counsel prior to presenting to make sure that no inventions are disclosed.
You may also consider giving your presentation orally, as courts have not yet considered oral presentations to be “printed publications.” However, while oral presentations are not considered “printed publications,” any visual aides (e.g., posters, overhead transparencies, slides) may be.
Never distribute copies of your visual aides and display them only as long as needed. Also include disclaimers forbidding copying of your visual aides. At the same time, enforce these disclaimers by stopping those attempting to copy the material.