What is prior art?
Prior art is relevant past technology that may be considered by the patent office in evaluating novelty and non-obviousness. If a patent application is filed in the U.S., anything that has been published, used in public, offered for sale or sold by anyone before the inventor(s) made the invention, or more than one year before the application is filed, becomes a part of the prior art for that application. The inventor’s own publications made within a year prior to the filing of the patent application do not prevent the inventor from obtaining a patent. However, such publications do prevent foreign patents from being obtained, because of the requirement for absolute novelty.
Prior art is any relevant publication, patent, or event prior to invention that may be considered by the patent office in evaluating patentability of the invention. If a patent application is filed in the US, anything that has been published, used in public, offered for sale or sold by anyone before the inventor(s) made the invention, or more than one year before the application is filed, becomes a part of the prior art for that application.
Prior Art refers to public knowledge existing before the date an invention was made, that is related to the invention, or in the field of the invention. In the case of Biotech patents, prior art includes published journal articles and abstracts, previously filed patents, and in some cases, non-written knowledge made public, such as material presented at a scientific conference. In order to obtain a patent, an applicant (inventor) must prove that his/her invention is a.) novel over the prior art, and b.) non-obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art.
A. Prior art is defined by statute (35. U.S.C. 102), but it may generally be thought of as anything that prior workers in the field have made or disclosed in the past. Prior art may include printed publications, conference handouts (and sometimes even presentations within a university), books, newspaper articles – often regardless of where the material was published, where it was published, and in what language it was published. Prior art may also include orally presented material, such as discussions at conferences, disclosures to competitors, certain disclosures to colleagues in a field, and other public statements. Thus, an inventor may under certain circumstances create prior art against herself (thereby jeopardizing patent rights) by publicly disclosing an invention prior to the filing of a patent application.
