> They do not have to publish. The USPTO will publish patents (provisional or full) 18 months after filing, so -- at the very least -- one has to wait 18 months.
Holy shit, what?! The US patent system means that you can infringe on patents that you had no way to know even existed at that point in time? How the fuck can someone look at this policy and think that it's in any way reasonable?!
They also publish at grant of course. It's just that it rarely takes less than 2 years from filing to grant so first publication by USPTO is usually pre-approval, 18 month from filing
