Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[Anax]

Hey honors, good question! I have been asking myself the same questions for the last two days, as I have recently also stated that there are patents (for instance the orthodontic patent) having filing dates dating this year.

The legal issue seems to be clear, there is always a 18-months locked time window:

For the international patent applications (WIPO):
http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/texts/articles/a21.htm

"after the expiration of 18 months from the priority date of that application."

For the US patent applications (USPTO):
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1120.html

"promptly after the expiration of a period of 18 months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under this title."

However it seems that some patents have filing dates which date beyond June 2012. For example the orthodontic or the oil patent applications I was recently pointing out:

METALLIC GLASS ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCES AND METHODS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EXPENDABLE TUBING-CONVEYED PERFORATING GUN

Looking again into these patents I have found out that they are in fact much older, then the filing dates indicate. What I overlooked is that in some cases there are cross-references to related applications. For instance one can file provisional patent applications (which is then the earliest filing date, the priority date) or one can file continuation patent applications to an older application (which is then the earliest filing date, the priority date).

The oil patent for example:
"This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Serial No. 13/822,604 filed Mar. 12, 2013 which is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT/US2012/034599, filed Apr. 22, 2012 and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/477910, filed Apr. 21, 2011. Each patent application identified above is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes."

So the first time the oil patent from Halliburton was conceived is actually the 04/21/2011!

Similarly the orthodontic patent has also the cross-reference:
"This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/603,674, filed Feb. 27, 2012"

Considering these possible time shiftings in the filing dates due to Provision and Continuation patent applications, it seems that the above cited regulations of WIPO and USPTO of 18 months lock-time always apply to all patents. This also means, that I have to make a correction to my recent statements in:

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=94595579

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=94511814

The priority dates or rather the earliest filing dates of those patents are in fact older. And the stated filing dates which overlapped with the prototype activitiy (February and March 2013 - Oil and medical prototypes), only represent a re-filing of the patent relating either to a Continuation of an older patent filing date (the red highlighted dates above) or to an official filing of an earlier Provision Patent application.

All in all, the timings of the patents are a little bit tricky and sometimes one gets lost in the jungle of different patent applications (WIPO/USPTO/EPO). But the fact remains, the publications of patents can`t be earlier than 18 months after the first priority date of the patent (the time, when the invention was for the first time conceived and applied as a patent).

Today another great example was published, maintaining the same 18-months deadline rule:

FASTENER MADE OF BULK AMORPHOUS ALLOY

The patent was published today: December 19, 2013
The official filing date is: June 18, 2012
--> Exactly 18 Months!


Referring the last question whether there were issued patents this year:

There have been also patents granted in 2013, for instance

BULK AMORPHOUS ALLOY SHEET FORMING PROCESSES

Publication date: July 16, 2013
Filing date: May 16, 2012
--> Less than 18 months!

So it seems, that there may be exceptions to publications of patents which have been already granted. I will look it up another time, if there is also an official rule for this process. However, I hope that this helps!