The advantages of continuing to innovate after your patent application
You have developed an innovation; the patent application has been filed. That's it, you're all done! That could indeed be the case. But if you look at patenting from a strategic point of view then this is definitely not the case. A blog about the importance of continuing to innovate, especially after the patent application.
Apply for a new patent before the previous one is published
The contents of your patent application will be published eighteen months after it was filed. Your innovation will then be in the public domain. That's not a problem because, if all is well, you were the first to apply for a patent on the idea. This means that you will have what is called the priority right for twelve months from the date of filing. However you are probably not going to be sitting still in those eighteen months. Generally speaking a patent is filed on a fairly general product, technology or process. After which follow-on developments take place. For instance, you conduct further research and discover a way of improving the innovation by making some adjustments. In that case you would be well advised to file another patent application and to do so before your first application is published.
Stay ahead of the competition
Why do you have to do this within that eighteen month period, i.e. before the publication of the first patent? Because once your innovation is in the public domain, your competitors will be aware of what you are working on. They can then make improvements and apply for a patent on these. This is subject to certain conditions and they cannot simply go ahead and do it. Still, that does not alter the fact that you will want to stay in control of the further development of your innovation. So a strong strategy for building a patent portfolio is to continue innovating and applying for patents on those innovations. By the time your competitors know what you are working on you will already have filed a new application, which will not have been published at that time. This ensures that you stay ahead of the competition.
Novel, but not inventive
There is another advantage to filing a new patent application before the first one is published. When you file a patent application, the novelty and inventiveness of innovations that are known at the time will always be taken into account for the grant. This includes your own innovations. So your own patent could potentially be used against you so to speak. If you file a patent application before the first one is published, only novelty but not inventiveness will be taken into account. And novelty is relatively easy to demonstrate. Demonstrating inventiveness is more complex. You can avoid this problem by filing the application before your previous patent application has been published.
ADvice
From a strategic point of view, when building up a patent portfolio you will need to keep a keen eye on your innovations, the competition and how you monetise your patent. Sometimes it is wise to file one or more applications but there are also times when it is better to keep things secret. If you are looking for advice on what would best suit your business and innovation, please get in touch with me. I would be happy to share my thoughts and ideas with you!

About the author
I joined EP&C in 2023 with deep expertise in physics, electronics, optics, and software, backed by a Ph.D. in computational physics. My academic journey, which included collaborations with top...
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