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In order to reduce the impact of non-obviousness on patentability, to eliminate the flash of genius test, and to provide a more fair and practical way to determine whether the invention disclosure deserves a patent monopoly, the Congress took the matter in its own hands and enacted the Patent Act of 1952 35 U.S.C. Section § 103 reads:
The purpose of the inventive step, or non-obviousness, requirement is to avoid granting patents for inventions which only follow from "normal product design and development", to achieve a proper balance between the incentive provided by the patent system, namely encouraging innovation, and its social cost, namely conferring temporary monopolies. [4]
Teleflex described how obviousness should be determined: In determining whether the subject matter of a patent claim is obvious, neither the particular motivation nor the avowed purpose of the patentee controls. What matters is the objective reach of the claim. If the claim extends to what is obvious, it is invalid under §103.
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.
Another difference between the practices of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other patent offices is the requirements for non-obviousness and for inventive step.
It also effected substantive changes, including the codification of the requirement for non-obviousness [1] [2] and the judicial doctrine of contributory infringement. [3] As amended, it is codified in Title 35 of the United States Code .
Although the Court confirmed that non-obviousness is a question of law, it held that §103 required a determination of the following questions of fact to resolve the issue of obviousness: Scope and content of the prior art; Differences between the claimed invention and the prior art; Level of ordinary skill in the art
The all elements rule or all limitations rule (often written with a hyphen after "all") is a legal test used in US patent law to determine whether a given reference shows that a patent claim [1] lacks the novelty required to be valid. The rule is also applicable to an obviousness analysis. [2]