Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Patent applications are not available to the public for the first 18 months after filing (unless early publication is requested). In fact, nonpublication can be requested by the applicant, in which case the application does not become available to the public until after it is granted.

You can try searching by keywords, as well as for the assignee or inventors if you know them, or in particular technology areas (classes). A patent search expert or patent attorney could help you with that, but as I note the application may simply be unavailable.

Mr. Hyra is quite correct; I post merely to clarify that the searcher cannot request early publication of a patent application; that request must come from the patent applicant.

Should the applicant request non-publication, that application cannot be filed in any country outside of the USA; that means that rights to the invention would be unprotected in another country (such as Canada, China, or the European Union).

You may � MAY � be able to get a copy of the patent application from the other inventor by asking for it. Responding to that request is up to them, but there's no harm in trying.

THIS POST CONTAINS GENERAL INFORMATION AND IS INTENDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE, NOR DOES IT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP. FOR LEGAL ADVICE ON YOUR PARTICULAR MATTER, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.