Q: I discovered a scientific fact regarding character disturbance in psychology. I want to register a patent for that.
Not sure to whom I should submit it as I don’t live in the USA. Also I am afraid that my discovery could be stolen when I submit it. How can ensure that it won’t be stolen even if it was refused.
A:
1) it is ok to file a patent application in the United States even though you do not live here. When you get the US patent, it will only impact people within the US. So your patent can be used to prevent people from using your idea in the US but they would be free to use it in your country.
2) So you may seek to obtain patent protection in a number of countries.
3) IF you do not seek patent protection beyond the US, then you can file a Request for Non-Publication at filing (cannot do it later) and then your patent application will not publish at 18 months as is the default process. If you do not get a patent from the application, then the application won't be published and you can keep your idea secret.
4) I am not sure that what you have is patenable subject matter. You may want to do some preliminary searching using tips from my slide set http://bit.ly/Patent_Searching.
Armed with the closest issued patents you can find, you can talk with patent attorney to see if your idea is patentable subject matter.
I hope that this helps.
Kevin E Flynn
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