Patent Applied For

“The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance.” -- Confucius (China's most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, 551-479 BC)

ExxonMobil has applied for a number of patents this year, including the following …

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UPGRADING HEAVY OILS BY SELECTIVE OXIDATION
United States Patent Application 20160060550 
March 3, 2016 
Assignee: ExxonMobil
Abstract
A heavy petroleum oil feed is upgraded by having its amenability to cracking improved by subjecting the oil to selective partial oxidation with a catalytic oxidation system to partially oxidize aromatic ring systems in the heavy oil. The partially oxidized oil can then be cracked in the conventional manner but at lower severities to lower molecular weight cracking products. The cracking following the partial oxidation step may be thermal in nature as by thermal cracking, delayed, contact or fluid coking or fluid catalytic cracking or hydrogenative as in hydrocracking.
Source: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=5&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=exxonmobil.AS.&OS=AN/exxonmobil&RS=AN/exxonmobil
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Patent applications are interesting because, while the patent has not yet been granted, it offers a glimpse into what the Assignee is exploring.

However, the patent application process involves a number of steps.  The initial steps are not visible to the public.  This explains why, when a company claims “patent applied for,” it can be difficult to verify the claim.

So, until the patent application reaches the stage at which it is published for public view, you just have to trust the company’s claim that it has, in fact, applied for patent protection.

This is not a problem when the company making the claim is a giant like ExxonMobil.  It can be problematic when the company making the claim is a start up, whose fortunes depend on the technology under review.

TIP: Be careful when a young company claims technology for which it has applied for patent protection.  If the patent application is not yet publicly available, ask for some other type of verification of the claim.