I have practiced patent law in Chicago for 26 years (the last ten in the western suburbs) and there are two aspects of your article about Jaime Aramburo [“Pipe Dreams,” September 15] that jumped out at me (as they would to any competent patent lawyer). First, the story says Jaime used his invention in the early 1990s. This would make it impossible for him to apply for patent protection because U.S. law requires the filing of an application within one year of the date the invention is made public (in most foreign countries, an application must be filed before ANY public disclosure is made). The first question Jaime should have been asked by Advent is whether he had made any disclosure of his invention that would prevent him from lawfully filing an application. Second, provisional patents are not “awarded.” A provisional patent application is not an application for patent: provisionals are not examined by the Patent Office, never issue as patents, and expire one year after they have been filed. They offer no protection against infringers.
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Western Springs
