Do patents disappear?

February 24, 2020 10:54 PM

How do I interpret patents on a resume that don't match search results?

I recently saw a resume that claimed 6 patents: two issued and four applications, over the last 20 years, the latest one two years ago.

However, when I search the USPTO or use Google's patent search, only the first two show up. The others don't show up under inventor name, or the numbers provided.

Is it possible that records are not public, or updated, or some innocuous reason? Would withdrawn applications show up? Or is this pretty straightforward didn't-happen?

Patents are not my wheelhouse, so please fill me in.

posted by Dashy to Law & Government (16 answers total)

Are the dates of the parents recent? Some people put patent applications on their resume. Until the patent is awarded, the application is private.
posted by saeculorum at 11:07 PM on February 24, 2020

(somewhat esoterically, patents can be classified and not available for public access)
posted by saeculorum at 11:10 PM on February 24, 2020

Patent applications do normally have a delay before being published. I think it’s usually 2 years. There’s usually a further period between publication and granting, during which time the patent is examined and others can file opposition.
posted by scorbet at 11:14 PM on February 24, 2020

Three to five years old. ....Wikipedia tells me Patent applications are generally published 18 months after the earliest priority date of the application. Prior to that publication the application is confidential to the patent office. After publication, depending upon local rules, certain parts of the application file may remain confidential, but it is common for all communications between an Applicant (or his agent) and the patent office to be publicly available. .

The Slate article linked says 117 secrecy orders imposed each year, so that's possible but not likely.
posted by Dashy at 11:16 PM on February 24, 2020

Public PAIR is a huge pain to use, and very finicky about inputs. Try looking them up on Espacenet, the EPO's database.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 1:03 AM on February 25, 2020

There can also be some weirdness about the different numbers, and how they should be formatted. Are you sure that they are US patents? Some countries patents are not that accessible.

There does seem to be something called "provisional patents" in the US which are not disclosed to the publiv. These expire after 12 months unless a normal non-provisional patent is applied for.
posted by scorbet at 1:57 AM on February 25, 2020

Can you find the actual patents and not the applications, or does it break down some other way?

(If you want you can memail me one of the numbers and I can also search, but I understand if you don't want to.)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:58 AM on February 25, 2020

Is there a chance that they're patents within the same patent family? So for the sake of example, let's say of the six on the resume, you've got two grants (presumably in the US) and then the four applications may be showing up as family members of the other two? I believe if you look at the Google Patents interface, they're listed under the "Worldwide Applications" section of the sidebar. I have to admit that Google isn't my patent database, so I'm not 100% sure how their records display, but ultimately this could be a database thing, not a patent thing. That if they're in the same family, they're technically different patent numbers, but would be on the same record in the database.
posted by librarianamy at 5:06 AM on February 25, 2020

If you have a Patent and Trademark Resource Center nearby, you could swing in or give them a call. I used to work at a public library with one - the Patent Librarian was a pro at deciphering patent mysteries. It's a government program so even if the PTRC is at an academic institution they should help out regardless of whether you're connected with the school.
posted by Gray Duck at 5:36 AM on February 25, 2020

Isn't the simplest explanation that they were simply not granted?
posted by NoDef at 5:45 AM on February 25, 2020

I am a patent attorney but not your patent attorney. The below assumes these are US patents and applications you are searching for.

If they are US provisional applications filed within about the past 10 years, they should have application serial numbers starting with a 6, most likely 60, 61, or 62 (I think older apps started with two digits in the 50s but that was quite a while ago). Provisionals are not published at all. (If another application claims priority to them you should be able to find them if you poke around in Public PAIR).

Otherwise, normally US patent applications are published 18 months from the earliest priority date, but it is possible to file a non-publication request to avoid that. Granted patents must be published.

Important to your search: application serial numbers are different from publication numbers and those are different from patent numbers. Even inventors seems to be confused by this and mix them up, so don't assume the resume refers to them correctly. Serial numbers are 8 digits, while publication numbers start with the four digit year of publication followed by another seven digits. The 10 millionth patent was issued in June 2018 and they are numbered sequentially in order of issuance so you can figure that out.

I would try searching here, preferably by number in case of weird stuff going on with the name (I don't know how that search handles middle initials, for example). Omit any slashes or commas in the number when you search. You can just use Quick Search there. Don't bother searching for provisional applications.
posted by exogenous at 5:59 AM on February 25, 2020

6 patents: two issued and four applications

As exogenous said, even the inventors mix this stuff up. An "application" is not a patent. It may become a patent if it is examined and approved (issued) by the USPTO.

Also as exogenous said, a provisional application (there's no such thing as a "provisional patent") is never published if it's not followed up with a formal application, which then may possibly mature into a patent.

This is really an HR issue. For what purpose is the inventor claiming to have these "patents"?

If it's to show that his creativity has been recognized by the USPTO, then the two issued patents will do that. The applications won't.

Or, the documents may be on the resume to show some of his important research work. In that case you could ask for copies of them to learn more about his work.

Or if you just want to confirm the accuracy of the resume, you could ask him for a copy of the official filing receipt that he received when he filed each of the documents in the USPTO.

I'm asking myself, no matter why he cited the 6 documents on his resume, why he didn't also include accurate, usable identifying numbers.
posted by JimN2TAW at 6:46 AM on February 25, 2020

It sounds like there's enough genuine complexity here that — pending further info from from the resume-holder — you may wish to give them benefit of any doubt.
posted by matthewr at 6:52 AM on February 25, 2020

there's no such thing as a "provisional patent"

Oops, meant application, but wasn't apparently thinking properly this morning.
posted by scorbet at 8:52 AM on February 25, 2020

per above, I think the most likely explanation is that these were provisional applications that were not converted to regular applications.

Thanks, all.
posted by Dashy at 9:05 AM on February 25, 2020

If you can pull up one of their patents, you should also be able to do an inventor name search for them (often this is “Lastname, Firstname M.”)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:57 AM on February 25, 2020