Important Patent Case Law Decisions

Executive summary:

BitLaw contains hypertext versions of the most important recent court cases dealing with Patent law. This document contains a brief summary of the recent cases, and links to those cases that have been added to BitLaw.

You may wish to go directly to one of the topical subheadings for this index:

• Provisional Patent Applications

Provisional Patent Applications

New Railhead Manufacturing L.L.C. v. Vemeer Manufacturing Co. (Fed. Cir. 2002)

In this case, the plaintiff invented a new drill bit where the bit body is "angled with respect to the sonde housing." While this angle was described in the non-provisional patent application, the angle was not disclosed in the originally filed provisional application. Unfortunately, the plaintiff had offered the drill bit for sale more than one-year before the non-provisional filing date, and therefore the patent would be invalid under the statutory bar section of 35 U.S.C. 102(b) unless the patent was entitled to the filing date of the provisional application. Since the claim limitation of the angled drill bit body was not adequately disclosed in the provisional application, the inventor could not claim the benefit of the provisional application and the patent was declared invalid.

All ---------- PATENTS Overview Software Statute Regulations M.P.E.P. ---------- TRADEMARKS Overview Statute Regulations T.M.E.P. ---------- COPYRIGHTS Overview Statute Regulations ---------- INTERNET LAW

Go To ---------- Beck & Tysver BitLaw Home ---------- Patent Overview Software Patents Patent Statute Patent Regulations M.P.E.P. ---------- Trademark Overview Trademark Statute Trademark Regulations T.M.E.P. ---------- Copyright Overview Copyright Statute Copyright Regulations ---------- Internet Law Overview

© 1996-2007 Daniel A. Tysver (Beck & Tysver) All Rights Reserved.
IMPORTANT: Please review the legal disclaimer and feedback page