Appeal 2007-0712
Application 90/006,713
179 USPQ 421, 423 (CCPA 1973).
35 U.S.C. § 102
“A person shall be entitled to a patent unless …. 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” 35 USC § 102(b).
To anticipate a claim, a prior art reference must disclose every
limitation of the claimed invention, either expressly or inherently.
Verdegaal Bros. v. Union Oil Co., 814 F.2d 628, 631, 2 USPQ2d 1051, 1053
(Fed. Cir. 1987).
35 U.S.C. § 103
“A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically
disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the
differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art
are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the
time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to
which said subject matter pertains.” 35 USC § 103(a).
In determining whether claimed subject matter would have been
obvious we take into consideration (1) the scope and content of the prior art,
(2) any differences between the claimed invention and the prior art, (3) the
level of skill in the art, and (4) any relevant objective evidence of
15
Page: Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
Last modified: September 9, 2013