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True but the patent is in good faith:

> We clarify that the patent will remain free to use, because it is in our intention that all hospitals in need could use it if necessary.

> We clarify that our initiative is totally non-profit, we will not obtain any royalties on the idea of the link, nor on the sales of Decathlon masks.

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They can't just say "hey, we're publishing this, and this is now prior art" so no one can patent it in the future?

(Is this a difference between the US and EU patent systems?)

Not anymore. US used to be first to invent but switched to first to file a some years ago.

That doesn’t make a difference in this case. It just affects which filer gets priority if more than one party files claiming the same invention.

The winning filer’s claim still has to meet the other requirements for a patent, including novelty and non-obviuousness.

"We're publishing this and now it is prior art" is more costly to defend in the US courts compared to having a patent.

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