Appeal No. 1998-2848
Application 08/398,862
the invention in this country before the filing date of the
application on which the U.S. patent issued. "The showing of
facts shall be such, in character and weight, as to establish
reduction to practice prior to the effective data of the
reference, or conception of the invention prior to the
effective date of the reference coupled with due diligence
from prior to said date to a subsequent reduction to practice
or to the filing of the application." 37 CFR § 1.131(b). The
"invention" refers to the subject matter of the claims. The
purpose of the Rule 131 showing is to establish broadly
possession of the invention. A Rule 131 declarant need not
necessarily show possession of the entire invention as later
claimed; it is sufficient that he shows possession of enough
to make the entire invention obvious to one of ordinary skill
in the art. See In re Spiller, 500 F.2d 1170, 1176,
182 USPQ 614, 618-19 (CCPA 1974). Cf. Bosies v. Benedict,
27 F.3d 539, 543, 30 USPQ2d 1862, 1865 (Fed. Cir. 1994) (In
interferences: "The question of conception is properly
directed to whether there was 'formation [] in the mind of the
inventor of a definite and permanent idea of the complete and
operative invention . . . [and whether] every limitation of
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