35 USC 102
Conditions for patentability; novelty and loss of right to patent

Executive summary:

This document contains one section of the U.S. Patent Act (found in Title 35 of the United States Code). This page was last updated in November 2005. All of the sections of the Patent Act are listed on the Index page. A Word Index is also available to the Patent Act.

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§102. Conditions for patentability; novelty and loss of right to patent

A person shall be entitled to a patent unless--

(a)

the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or

(b)

the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent in the United States, or

(c)

he has abandoned the invention, or

(d)

the invention was first patented or caused to be patented, or was the subject of an inventor's certificate, by the applicant or his legal representatives or assigns in a foreign country prior to the date of the application for patent in this country on an application for patent or inventor's certificate filed more than twelve months before the filing of the application in the United States, or

(e)

the invention was described in (1) an application for patent, published under section 122(b) [35 USC 122(b)], by another filed in the United States before the invention by the applicant for patent or (2) a patent granted on an application for patent by another filed in the United States before the invention by the applicant for patent, except that an international application filed under the treaty defined in section 351(a) [35 USC 351(a)] shall have the effects for the purposes of this subsection of an application filed in the United States only if the international application designated the United States and was published under Article 21(2) of such treaty in the English language; or

(f)

he did not himself invent the subject matter sought to be patented, or

(g)

(1)

during the course of an interference conducted under section 135 [35 USC 135] or section 291 [35 USC 291], another inventor involved therein establishes, to the extent permitted in section 104 [35 USC 104], that before such person's invention thereof the invention was made by such other inventor and not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed, or

(2)

before such person's invention thereof, the invention was made in this country by another inventor who had not abandoned, suppressed, or concealed it. In determining priority of invention under this subsection, there shall be considered not only the respective dates of conception and reduction to practice of the invention, but also the reasonable diligence of one who was first to conceive and last to reduce to practice, from a time prior to conception by the other.