Ex Parte BISHOP - Page 9





         Tnterference No. 104,067                                                    


         154 F.3d at 1327, 47 USPQ2d at 1901; Newkirk v. Lulelian,                   
         825 F.2d 1581, 1582, 3 USPQ2d 1793, 1794 (Fed. Cir. 1987).                  
              Depending on the complexity of the invention, testing may or           
         may not be necessary to establish that a particular invention ,             
         works for its intended purpose. The court has held that "[t1here            
         are some devices so simple that a mere construction of them is              
         all that is necessary to constitute a reduction to practice."               
         Sachs v. Wadsworth, 48 F.2d 928, 929, 9 USPQ 252, 254 (CCPA                 
         1931). However, "reduction to practice of a complex mechanical              
         device . . . [requires] that the device was subjected to a test             
         under actual working conditions which demonstrated not that the             
         device might work, but that it actually did work." Chandler v.              
         Mocli, 150 F.2d 563, 565, 66 USPQ 209, 211 (CCPA 1945).                     
              Similarly, the Court in Field v. Knowles, 183 F.2d 593, 601,           
         86 USPQ 373, 379 (CCPA 1950) explained:                                     
                   To constitute an actual reduction to practice of a                
              machine, the device must be completed in an operative                  
              form capable of successfully demonstrating its                         
              practical utility in its intended field of use . . . .                 
              Unless the device is of such a nature that by its very                 
              simplicity its practical operativeness is manifest,                    
              . . . the machine must be tested under actual working                  
              conditions . . . . in such a way as to demonstrate its                 
              practical utility for its intended purpose. . . .                      
              beyond probability of failure . . . . Actual                           
              performance is required of the function for which the                  
              machine is intended with a quality, extent, and                        
              character of operation sufficient to indicate its                      


                                         9                                           








Page:  Previous  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  Next 

Last modified: November 3, 2007