IP Strategy for Deep Tech Founders · Part 2 of 3
Filing order, disclosure, and the twelve-month window
The most common damage in deep-tech IP is done before anyone talks to an attorney, by people acting reasonably.
One year
US grace period after your own public disclosure
Zero
grace period in most other jurisdictions
The demo is a publication
A conference talk, a public repository, a spec sheet handed out at a booth, a paper submitted without an embargo, each can start a clock, and several close doors abroad immediately.
None of this makes disclosure wrong. It makes the order matter. A filing that precedes the talk costs the same as one that follows it and preserves considerably more.
What the twelve months are actually for
A provisional buys a year of priority. It is worth what it describes: a thin provisional supports thin claims later, whatever date it carries.
Use the year to learn what the invention turns out to be in practice, then file the non-provisional around what you know rather than what you hoped.
Key insight
Priority dates reward sequence, not spending. The founders who lose ground rarely underspend; they publish first.
What to do next
- 01Keep one list of every planned public disclosure with dates.
- 02Check the list before, not after, each filing decision.
- 03Treat any date you cannot source from a document as unverified.
Daniel Gould
General Partner, Castle Fund
Invests in deep-tech companies at seed and Series A, and has sat on both sides of the diligence table when a portfolio is the asset being bought.
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Editorial
ZeroToIP builds one record that runs from a founder's first description of an invention to counsel's filing. This series is general information, not legal advice.