Once you show your invention to the public, you must file a patent application within 12 months or lose the ability to get a patent for your own invention.

Generally, you will want to file a patent application before you show your invention to the public. So, before you show off your invention on YouTube or put it up for sale on Amazon, you should file a patent application. This way, no one who sees your invention can file a patent application before you do.

However, if you show your invention to the public before filing a patent application, US patent law says you have 12 months to file a patent application. If you do not file a patent application within 12 months of when you show your invention to the public, you can no longer get a patent for your own invention! Imagine your dismay when the patent office says you cannot get a patent simply because you applied too late! The 12 months you have to file a patent application after you disclose your invention to the public is known as the 12 month grace period.

Public disclosure can be you describing your invention in an article, publication, or website. It can be you selling the product or showing it off on YouTube. It can be you offering the product for sale or showing it off to the public in any other way. Once you have made it public, the 12 month clock starts to tick.

All is not lost if you miss the 12 month grace period. It may be possible to overcome the deadline if you’ve made improvements or modification to your invention since it was shown publicly. These improvements can serve to make your new invention patentably distinct from what was originally disclosed. This way, at least you can argue that the two inventions aren’t identical.

If you have already disclosed your invention to the public, it is important to file a patent application within 12 months of disclosure which fully protects every aspect of your disclosed invention. Any patent application you file should be written with enough detail to fully explain your invention. This way, you claim protection for all the aspects of the invention that were disclosed to the public. A poorly written patent application that does not fully detail how your invention works may not meet the all of the patentability requirements and may cause you to miss the 12 month grace period and you would lose the ability to obtain a patent.

The main takeaways are:

1. File a well written patent application before you disclose your invention to the public.
2. If you have already disclosed your invention to the public without filing a patent application, you must file a well written patent application within 12 months of your public disclosure.

Failure to file a well written patent application within 12 months of showing your invention to the public will result in not being able to obtain a patent on your own invention.

Finally, note that the 12 month grace period is a law set by the United States Patent Office only. Some countries, such as those in the European Patent Organization, have set no grace period. This means, once you show  your invention to the public, you may immediately lose your right to obtain a patent in those countries. The safest thing to do is to file all of your patent applications, in all countries, before you show your invention to the public.