Innovators are often anxious to get a new product to market but moving too quickly can expose a major consequence lurking behind what might have seemed like a trivial distinction at the time.

In principle, an inventor loses the right to seek a patent if the invention is put into public use before filing a patent application. U.S. patent law provides a one-year grace period for a number of activities that seeks balance between the public’s right to retain knowledge already in the public domain with the inventor’s right to control whether and when to patent an invention.

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