Appeal No. 95-4878
Application No. 08/225,087
371. When a U.S. national application filed under § 111(a)
becomes a U.S. patent, its effective date as a prior art
reference against a pending application is its effective
filing date. See our clause (1) of 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) above.
Since the application of Bluml was not a U.S. national stage
application under 35 U.S.C.
§ 371, the requirements of our clause (2) of § 102(e) above
need not be considered. Thus if a § 111(a) application claims
the benefit of a prior application, such as a continuation-in-
part of a copending PCT international application under 35
U.S.C. §§ 120 and 365(c), its effective date as a reference is
the filing date of the prior application. See 35 U.S.C. §§
120, 365(c), and MPEP, §§ 1896 and 2136.03 (II)(7th ed., July
1998). See also Hoover, Journal of the Patent and Trademark
Office Society, Vol. 80, No. 4, pp. 289-295, April 1998.
Therefore the effective date of the Bluml reference is May 19,
1988, the filing date of PCT/DE88/00304, and Bluml is
available as a prior art reference under § 102(e) since it is
“by another” and “filed before the invention thereof by the
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