7
votes
Accepted
Repatenting someone else's dropped provisionals
The answer to this turns on 35 USC § 102(a), which reads:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless—
(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, ...
- 6,218
5
votes
Do you have to amend claims lacking novelty or an inventive step
Since you mention Articles 33(2) and (3) PCT, I assume that you requested International Preliminary Examination, and that the Examiner who drafted the International Preliminary Examination Report (...
- 156
4
votes
Repatenting someone else's dropped provisionals
Why does it puzzle you? If it is not available to the public, it is not prior art.
I think relevant US provision is here (MPEP 901.02)
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s901.html#...
- 1,292
4
votes
Accepted
What is the line between obvious and novel?
Novelty just means a method is new/original, and has not been disclosed (with certain caveats, dependent on region.) Novelty is distinct from obviousness.
Novelty is defined in the US as follows:
...
- 761
4
votes
Accepted
Why novelty of the idea is required when non-obviousness apparently already covers the requirement?
Novelty was long the key to patentability until cases kept coming up that were novel but considered not a substantial leap forward. Courts said it isn't really new if it could have been thought of by ...
- 30.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Novelty requirements for dependent claims
If A is unknown, then a B that is A plus a regular thing "delta" is inherently unknown. So, a claim that says, "the thing of claim 1 where the bottom is red" is inherently novel if claim 1 is novel ...
- 30.7k
3
votes
How does this particular patent satisfy the tests of obviousness and novelty?
Many if not most patents are improvements on existing technology. While US5005266 patents a particular method of self-locking carabiner, it by no means patents the general idea of self-locking ...
- 11.7k
2
votes
Accepted
Are other parties free to innovate on my invention?
If they use your patented invention, they need to obtain a license from you. If you want to use their improvement, you would need to obtain a license from them.
- 11.7k
2
votes
Is novelty in every dependent claim a necessity?
First, a small note about terminology: the word "limitation" is almost a synonym for "feature."
To answer the questions, I'll come up with a simple example. Let's say your invention is a chair that ...
- 237
2
votes
To determine the novelty of the idea
As some other answers have suggested, there are two major requirements that are relevant to your question. The two requiresments are: novelty and nonobviousness. (Nonobviousness is a U.S. term; in ...
- 237
2
votes
What is the line between obvious and novel?
DonQuiKong's answer is a good one and should be accepted. As an inventor, I thought I might share a few other insights. Obviousness really is vague and subjective. It is thrown out by examiners almost ...
- 11.7k
2
votes
publish date vs priority date in pct countries for novelty purposes
In every country, prior art must be published (that is, available to the public). An expired provisional patent application which has not been used for priority is not available to the public: that is,...
- 6,218
2
votes
Accepted
Why is an Ex Parte 102(g) Rejection necessary? If an invention has been reduced to practice wouldn't the patent be preclude by 102(a)?
Pre-AIA, when it was "first to invent", there needed to be a scheme to figure out who won that contest. It was essentially, first to conceive as long as the first conceiver proceeded diligently from ...
- 30.7k
2
votes
Accepted
When exactly your own disclosures will be used as prior art against you?
There are no continuations in part at the EPO. At the EPO you only have patent applications, and divisionals of patent applications. Divisionals have the same disclosure of the parent application or a ...
- 2,264
2
votes
How is obviousness assessed?
In Europe the problem-and-solution approach is used most of the times because it is said to be an objective assessment of inventive step/non-obviousness. Below I reproduce some points about it. The ...
- 2,264
2
votes
How is obviousness assessed?
It is not a clear science but fortunately an examiner can't just say "seems obvious to me"
In the U.S., first the examiner must find a base reference with an embodiment that has some of the ...
- 30.7k
2
votes
Meeting and novelty
I am not a lawyer so this might not be right, but it is my best guess.
In Case A, I'm assuming the meeting was internal to the two companies and no-one in the meeting then publicly disclosed the ...
- 11.7k
2
votes
Why novelty of the idea is required when non-obviousness apparently already covers the requirement?
I do not see anything wrong with your understanding, but I would describe novelty and inventiveness in a way, that it can be acted upon, for example in an examination.
Novelty:
A subject-matter of an ...
- 488
2
votes
Under what circumstances can A+B be patented if A and B are already patented?
It is patentable if it meets the requirement of non-obviousness or inventive step, depending on how you call it. If it is obvious to combine A and B to solve the problem, then it is not patentable.
- 2,264
2
votes
Accepted
specific example of patentability
*The artificialness of the question makes a direct answer useless. I will try to explain some basic principles.
If any aspect at all in a claim can’t be found in the prior art then the claim is to ...
- 30.7k
2
votes
Accepted
can a bucket full of rocks ever be patented?
You can not patent just a bucket full of rocks. People have been using buckets to transport rocks for centuries. There is plenty of prior art and it is obvious to anyone who wants to move rocks that ...
- 11.7k
1
vote
How detailed must a description in a non-patent instance of prior art be to invalidate claims?
(Note: the blog post is not cited in the patent or its examination.)
This gives the added advantage as the same has not been examined the page could be a potential Novelty destroyer for the patent.
...
- 1,191
1
vote
How to interpret prior art with broad claims and narrower specification in order to invalidate another patent?
Bad news: there is an unexpired US patent that covers my concept (most
claims are relevant and not easily designed around).
There may be more than that one patent
I've found a few instances of ...
- 30.7k
1
vote
Reasons to request an "Expedited Review"
This path is very little used. It requires that you document the search and document that you did the search the way they would theoretically do the search. There may not be anything exactly like your ...
- 30.7k
1
vote
What is the strength of the patent, if during re-examination all the independent claims get cancelled and only dependent claims are confirmed?
A claim that survived reexamination is stronger afterwards than it was before. By definition, a claim that was originally dependent is narrower than the original independent claim. After reexamination ...
- 30.7k
1
vote
New use and area of application for old invention
If I invent something that solves a problem in a new area (an
improvement to something that was only invented ten years ago), by
using a technique and mechanism disclosed in old invention (...
- 11.7k
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