Non-disclosure

In Europe, the patent rights belong to the first person who files the patent application. Up to the filing of the application, the invention must remain absolutely secret. Any prior disclosure of the invention will violate the “novelty” criterion and will lead to refusal of the patent application.

In the United States, the patent rights belong to the first person to invent and authorises the inventor - but nobody else - to talk about his invention during one year prior to the filing of the patent application.

This 12 month period is called the “grace period”.