They claim they have 6 Patent Pending. A product or process secures patent pending when a patent application has been filed but is not yet granted. A patent pending is a clear demonstration of an inventor’s intent to pursue protection of an idea. However, the full scope of protection – or indeed whether a patent will even be issued – is far from certain. As they say, 'there's many a slip between cup and lip'.
The granting of a patent is a complex business. A patent application must include a specification of the invention, which contains instructions adequate to enable a skilled person in the relevant area of technology to produce or perform the invention. The specification must also indicate the ‘claims’ that define the invention; that is, the scope of protection that the applicant is seeking. Australian patent law recognises two types of patent applications—provisional and complete. Provisional and complete applications may be filed to obtain either a standard patent or an innovation patent. A provisional application need only contain a description of the invention. Often, an inventor files a provisional application before all the details of an invention are known. The applicant then has 12 months to file a complete application.
A provisional stage patent is not enforceable unless it converts to a complete patent. Patent pending may, therefore, never amount to protection for a provisional patent. However, as there is no disclosure of a provisional patent application to the public, it is impossible to know whether the provisional application will proceed to a complete application before the 12 months comes to an end.
In other words, claiming to have 6 patent pendings is advertising puffery.