patents disclosure
Patent Disclosure?
<p>If one mentions that one is perfecting a new device to a customer and mention that the problem has been solved, would this be considered to be disclosure and trigger the one-year clock to file a provisional patent?</p>

<p><a href="https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/mpep-9015-appx-l.html#al_d1fbe1_19797_b0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">13 U.S.C. 103</a> describes how public prior art may eliminate the patentability of an invention:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained... if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The key criterion here is whether the information you publicly disclosed (the prior art) made "the claimed invention as a whole... obvious..." In particular, it must be obvious to an expert in the domain of patent, i.e., "a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains."</p>

<p>If you've only disclosed that a solution for Problem X does positively exist, you probably have not given away information that makes the particular details of your solution "obvious" to anyone, including experts in the field of Problem X.</p>
