Good Riddence…Document Disclosure Program Ending

November 9, 2006 on 6:24 am | In Legislation/Regulation |

The USPTO announced a final rule last week:  Changes to Eliminate the Disclosure Document Program. 

My thoughts…good riddance to a program frequently abused by invention promotion companies…an easy way to trick inventors into thinking they had protection at the U.S. Patent Office. 

I don’t know how many times I’ve consulted with a (former) client of an invention promotion company where the poor inventor proudly pulled a stamped Document Disclosure out of their stack of papers, showing me how the promoter had filed a patent for them.  Don’t get me wrong…I never saw proof that the promoter had actually told them it was a patent, but the program was clearly was misleading/confusing to the inventor, a fact the invention promotion companies gladly took advantage of.  I’m sure the closure of this program will send many a promotion company back to the drawing board for how to replace this golden goose.

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1 Comment

  1. The other problem with the Document Disclosure program was that the document had to be written as well as a patent. I tried to assert one that had been written by a client one time. The Office examined it very carefully and determined that it did not contain enough information to support our contention that the invention had been invented as early as claimed in the document.

    Comment by Norton Townsley — November 10, 2006 #

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