有朋友問:“我的理解是在沒公布的18個月期間，專利檢索不能檢索到已經有人申請了，要等到18個月後公布才知道，那麽專利檢索也不能避免重複申請，以至成為無效申請。是這樣嗎？”
愛恨專利的答複:
“我的理解是在沒公布的18個月期間，專利檢索不能檢索到已經有人申請了，要等到18個月後公布才知道，那麽專利檢索也不能避免重複申請”。這四句話是正確的。
“…以至成為無效申請。” 這句話對了一半。簡單說來，就是既有可能你的成為無效申請，也有可能別人的成為無效申請。這取決於美國專利局的一個特殊程序，叫作interference. 這個程序是用來確立與維護美國先發明者得專利這一原則的。精確理解請參:
A person (你) shall be entitled to a patent unless … (1) during the course of an interference conducted under section 135 or section 291, another inventor (別人) involved therein establishes, to the extent permitted in section 104, that before such person's (你) invention thereof the invention was made by such other inventor (別人) and not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed, or (2) before such person's (你) invention thereof, the invention was made in this country by another inventor (別人) who had not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed it. In determining priority of invention under this subsection, there shall be considered not only the respective dates of conception and reduction to practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence of one (希望是你) who was first to conceive and last to reduce to practice, from a time prior to conception by the other(別人). 有問題但不想公開交流，請使用gu.rhonda@yahoo.com
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