Public disclosure refers to situations where an inventor makes non-confidential communication to an individual or general public, revealing their invention and enabling someone “skilled in the art” to replicate the invention.
It’s important to not reveal your invention to anyone, simply because the USPTO will not grant a patent for an invention that has prior art. Prior art is considered any evidence that your invention is already known, even if your invention doesn’t physically exist or isn’t commercially available. This includes the napkin sketches that you shared with your friend at a bar, that Facebook post you made about how your invention is going to save the world, and yes, even your Kickstarter campaign that raised $275 with the goal of $500,000.
Of course, there are situations where it’s necessary to share details about your concept during the development process. The best course of action to avoid public disclosure would be to get a provisional patent on file as soon as possible. In the US, we are in a “first-to-file” system, which means a patent will be awarded to the first inventor to file a patent application (not the first inventor to create the invention). Getting your patent application on file will give you a priority date that grants you the rights to your novel invention, and gives you a 12 month period to advance your concept before filing a non-provisional patent.
If you feel that your invention isn’t quite ready for patent protection, creating a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with manufacturers, licensing partners, distributors, and other third-parties will enable you to share proprietary information without it being considered public disclosure.
Public disclosure is one of the most common mistakes inventors make before they even have the chance to start the patent process. Keep your invention confidential!