The exhibition IP trap: protect it before you show it

Developing new products, processes and technology can raise important questions about how innovation is protected, shared and commercialised. In this five-part series, we use fictional manufacturer Vandecad Engineering to explore common IP issues facing engineering and manufacturing businesses, and the practical steps they can take to protect their innovation.

The prototype is ready, the brochures are printed and customers are gathering at your stand. Then someone asks:

Have we protected this invention?

Exhibitions help engineering businesses win customers and showcase their innovation but revealing how new technology works before filing a patent application can put potential protection at risk.

Meet Vandecad Engineering

Vandecad Engineering, a fictional UK manufacturer, has developed a new high-speed manufacturing machine.

Vandecad’s engineers have redesigned an internal mechanism, substantially increasing production speed. The company believes that advantage could be commercially valuable, but with a major engineering exhibition approaching, everyone has been focused on getting the machine ready in time.

No patent application has yet been filed.

On the opening morning, the machine is running on Vandecad's stand. From the outside, however, there is little to reveal how the improvement works.

Has Vandecad disclosed its invention by exhibiting the machine?

Not necessarily, but what happens next could change the answer.

What counts as a disclosure?

For an invention to be patentable, it must be new.

Under UK and European patent law, novelty is assessed against information made available to the public anywhere in the world before the relevant filing or priority date. That can include written or oral descriptions, use and other forms of disclosure.

In practice, this means businesses need to think beyond journal articles, technical papers and other patents.

Back on Vandecad's stand, an interested potential customer asks why their machine is so much faster.

Taking pride in their work, one of Vandecad's engineers removes a cover and explains the redesigned mechanism. Later that afternoon, the same mechanism features in a technical presentation and detailed drawings are handed to several potential customers.

The question of disclosure is therefore not simply: "Did Vandecad exhibit the machine?"

It becomes: "What information about the invention did Vandecad make available to the public?"

What matters is what visitors could learn about the invention. Running a machine with a hidden mechanism may reveal relatively little. Removing the cover, explaining the mechanism or handing out detailed drawings could disclose the very feature Vandecad wants to protect.

Can't Vandecad just use an NDA?

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) can help protect detailed discussions with a prospective customer or partner but it is not a practical substitute for a disclosure plan on a busy exhibition stand.

Before the show, Vandecad should consider whether to file a patent application and brief its team on what can be shared. Any filing needs to cover the invention the team intends to reveal.

What if the invention has already been disclosed?

Businesses sometimes hear about patent "grace periods" and assume that an accidental disclosure can simply be fixed by filing an application later. That can be a risky assumption if UK or European patent protection matters.

UK patent law does provide specific exceptions for certain disclosures, including particular circumstances involving breaches of confidence and qualifying international exhibitions. However, these are limited exceptions, rather than a general grace period for an ordinary trade show launch.

The safer approach is therefore not to reveal the invention first and investigate the consequences afterwards. It is to consider patent protection before any public disclosure takes place.