Timing in the IP World

Timing in the IP World & a Country's Intellectual Capital

In the United States the first to invent is the first in right.
Outside of the United States it is the first to file who is first in right.

It is clear that an invention which might do well in the United States also might do well outside of the US.

It would behoove the inventor to file a patent application as soon as it is reasonably possible. An application, even a provisional, should not be filed before the inventor has some idea how his invention may be created as a provisional app. which does not state such will not preserve the inventor's 112 rights and will not give said inventor the necessary priority for future utility or foreign applications.

An inventor who files too soon should be defined as an inventor who files without enough "know how" to preserve his 112 rights or as one who does not allow for the time to raise the capital necessary to preserve his foreign rights.

An inventor who files too late should be defined as one whose competitors manage to file before them in other countries before said inventor's rights have been preserved (before obtaining priority).

Either case allows control of the patent's technology to be taken out of the hands of local inventors as well as the incumbent revenue which would have therefore entered the US economy.
It should be noted that this situation also prevails, although with different rules, where trademarks and copyrights are concerned.

Such intellectual property may be seen as part of a country's intellectual capital. The rest of such capital may be found in the inventors and technologists themselves. Allowing the control over technology out of the country may also be a brain drain on the country. Skilled technicians will be needed outside of the country to service the lost technology and if the technology is developed here in the US some one will have to teach the local foreign technicians their jobs.