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Prior art (also known as state of the art [1] or background art [2]) is a concept in patent law used to determine the patentability of an invention, in particular whether an invention meets the novelty and the inventive step or non-obviousness criteria for patentability.
When assessing novelty, a generic disclosure (in the state of the art, i.e. for instance in a prior art document) does not normally take away the novelty of any specific example falling within that disclosure. [13] [14] On the other hand, "a specific disclosure does take away the novelty of a generic claim embracing that disclosure".
An invention is considered new if it does not form part of the prior art (or state of the art), i.e., if it was not already disclosed in the prior art. [2] An invention is considered inventive if it is not obvious in view of the prior art. [3] The prior art is essentially everything available to the public before the filing date of the patent. [4]
Novelty is requirement for a patent claim to be patentable. [1] In contrast, if an invention was known to the public before filing a patent application, or before its date of priority, if the priority of an earlier patent application is claimed, the invention is not considered new and therefore not patentable.
Article 83 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) [1] relates to the disclosure of the invention under the European Patent Convention.This legal provision prescribes that a European patent application must disclose the invention (which is the subject of the European patent application) in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art.
One notable example of this struggle is the positions of Justice Douglas in Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp. [7] in 1950, where he opined that to deserve a patent, an invention "had to serve the end of science—to push back the frontiers of chemistry, physics, and the like"; while two years prior in Funk Bros ...
A public disclosure is any non-confidential communication which an inventor or invention owner makes to one or more members of the public, revealing the existence of the invention and enabling an appropriately experienced individual ("person having ordinary skill in the art") to reproduce the invention. A public disclosure may be any form of ...
A patent disclosure "enables" the invention, if it allows a person of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without undue experimentation. Patents may fail this test if they claim more than they teach: for example, a patent that claims all light bulbs but explains only how to make a particular type of light bulb.