> It won't be safe to suggest ideas openly anymore. It won't be safe to talk about "what if" or "have you considered" or "someone should really." We are going to see a flood of really bad patents based on other people's ideas -- and that's exactly what our lawmakers have provided to their friends in large businesses.
That's not how first to file works. It just changes is what happens if two or more otherwise eligible people apply for the same patent. What I mean by "otherwise eligible" is that they would be entitled to the patent if there was not a conflict with another inventor claiming the same invention.
When there is a conflict (which does not happen for the vast majority of application), then first to file changes the resolution so that the winner is the first inventor to file, rather than the inventor with the earliest constructive invention date. (The constructive date is not necessarily the date you came up with the idea. If you come up with the idea, start working on reducing it to practice, but then stop for a while and then start again, your constructive invention date jumps from the date you came up with the idea to the date you resumed working on it. Each time you stop and start, your date jumps forward).
If you come up with some idea and have no intention of patenting it, you want to talk about it publicly under first to file just as much as you do under first to invent, in order to get it out there as prior art.
It's not the discussions around "I came up with an idea" that are at risk here -- it's the discussions that may precipitate ideas that might be patentable. Those are far more nuanced, and harder to present as evidence of invention, or obviousness.
That's not how first to file works. It just changes is what happens if two or more otherwise eligible people apply for the same patent. What I mean by "otherwise eligible" is that they would be entitled to the patent if there was not a conflict with another inventor claiming the same invention.
When there is a conflict (which does not happen for the vast majority of application), then first to file changes the resolution so that the winner is the first inventor to file, rather than the inventor with the earliest constructive invention date. (The constructive date is not necessarily the date you came up with the idea. If you come up with the idea, start working on reducing it to practice, but then stop for a while and then start again, your constructive invention date jumps from the date you came up with the idea to the date you resumed working on it. Each time you stop and start, your date jumps forward).
If you come up with some idea and have no intention of patenting it, you want to talk about it publicly under first to file just as much as you do under first to invent, in order to get it out there as prior art.