Foley Inventors See Longest Patent Wait of July as Vulcan Test Station Terminal Clears Review
A Vulcan Inc patent for a test station terminal took more than two years to win approval, standing as Foley's longest patent process of July.
A patent for a test station terminal filed by Vulcan, Inc. proved the longest-running approval among patents originating in Foley in July, taking more than two years from filing to grant.
The application went in on April 28, 2020 and was approved on July 5. It was the only patent credited to Foley that month.
Patents Are a Start, Not a Finish
Experts caution that a granted patent is no guarantee of commercial success. Dennis Crouch, co-director of the Center for Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship, has noted that roughly half of all patents expire prematurely because of the costs of maintaining them.
Vulcan, Inc.’s test station terminal adds to the roster of patented technology developed in Baldwin County, where companies and independent inventors regularly land grants from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A U.S. utility patent generally lasts 20 years from its filing date, so part of that term is used up while an application is under examination. To keep a patent in force after it is granted, the owner must pay maintenance fees to the USPTO at three and a half, seven and a half and eleven and a half years; patents lapse when those fees go unpaid, which is the premature expiration Crouch describes.
