What is the relationship between patents and publications?
United States patent law permits an inventor to obtain a patent if a patent application is filed within one year of the date of the first publication that disclosed the invention. In order to obtain a patent, the inventor must fully disclose the invention. Thus, in some ways, the act of patenting ensures publication. If a faculty member or researcher starts the patent filing process at the same time that he or she submits a manuscript for publication, it is likely that the patent application will be filed (in three months) before the manuscript is published (usually more than six months). It is not a matter of having to choose between patents and publications; both are feasible and desirable.
