How to give your invention to the world
You can't hand an idea over like property, but you can make sure nobody can own it: publish a full, dated description of it. Once it is public, it generally can no longer be patented by anyone, so it stays free for everyone to use. On Open Prior Art the description itself is published under CC BY 4.0, so people may also copy and adapt your text and drawings as long as they credit you or "Anonymous".
What "donating an invention" actually means
Ideas themselves aren't owned by anyone until someone gets a patent for them. So "donating" an invention means two practical things:
- Keeping it unpatentable, by putting it on public record with a date that can be proven. After that, a patent office should refuse anyone who later tries to patent the same thing.
- Letting people reuse your description, by publishing it under an open licence. Open Prior Art uses CC BY 4.0: anyone may copy and adapt your text and drawings, including commercially, as long as they credit the source.
Publishing compared with other ways to share
| What you have | How to keep it free |
|---|---|
| An idea or design you never patented | Publish a full description (a defensive publication). This is what Open Prior Art is for. |
| Design files (CAD, schematics, code) | Release them under an open licence (for hardware, e.g. the CERN Open Hardware Licence), and publish the technical idea too, so it can't be patented by someone else. |
| An invention you already patented | Publishing no longer changes anything; the invention is already public. You can let the patent lapse by not paying the renewal fees, or promise publicly not to enforce it (a patent pledge). Get advice on how binding that promise is. |
How to do it
- Decide that you won't want a patent for it later: publishing will most likely rule that out.
- Describe it fully: the problem, how it works, an example, variants, drawings. The more complete, the more of it stays free.
- Publish it on Open Prior Art, under your name, a company name, or anonymously.
- Share the link to your entry wherever people might build on it.
Questions
Can I put my invention in the public domain?
In practice, yes: publishing a full description keeps the invention itself free of patents for everyone. The description text and drawings on Open Prior Art are licensed CC BY 4.0, which requires credit; that is slightly different from a full public-domain dedication.
Will I get credit for my invention?
If you choose to show your name or company, the entry and its citation show it. You can also publish anonymously; the entry then says "Anonymous".
Can I take it back later?
No. Publication is permanent: entries can't be deleted, and copies exist in independent archives. That permanence is what keeps the invention free.