Q: What happens if I received my patent already and another person just received theirs but their filing date was earlier?
A:
I used to work for a firm that defended the original Bell telephone patent court (long long before I was born). So I am well aware that improvements to a particular device such as a telephone may continue to come out for a hundred years or so. It is possible that your patent claims one set of improvements to a particular device and this other patent claims different improvements for the same device. So even though the title of the patents may be close or the overall description and introductory figures for the device may be close when comparing the two patents--it is possible that the specific thing you claimed is different than the specific thing claimed in this other patent.
Your patent attorney should be able to answer that question.
If for some reason, the patent office made a mistake and there are two issued patents for the same good idea, then one patent will prevail over the other. A patent application may claim priority back to one or more earlier patent applications. As the earliest patent applications may have less detail than the later applications, it can take a bit of work to sort out which family of patents had the first application on file that had adequate details to support the issued claims. The general rule is that patent application family with the earliest filing date of a sufficiently detailed application would win any disputes on overlapping claims.
There is a further complication. If one person filing a patent application (call him A) received information that came from the other person (call her B). To the extent that the first person-A to file a patent application was actually filing a patent application on the ideas of the second person-B who later files a patent application -- then the real inventor-B who was the second to file a patent application can prove those facts and prevail.
If you found this answer helpful, you may want to look at my answers to other questions about patent law are available at the bottom of my profile page at
https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/kevin-e-flynn-880338
Kevin E Flynn
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
