Cite as: 525 U. S. 55 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.
Section 102(b) of the Patent Act of 1952 provides that no person is entitled to patent an "invention" that has been "on sale" more than one year before filing a patent application.1 We granted certiorari to determine whether the commercial marketing of a newly invented product may mark the beginning of the 1-year period even though the invention has not yet been reduced to practice.2
I
On April 19, 1982, petitioner, Wayne Pfaff, filed an application for a patent on a computer chip socket. Therefore, April 19, 1981, constitutes the critical date for purposes of the on-sale bar of 35 U. S. C. § 102(b); if the 1-year period
erty Law Association by Robert H. Fischer, Gary L. Griswold, Robert L. Baechtold, and J. Michael Jakes; for the Federal Circuit Bar Association by George E. Hutchinson, Denise W. DeFranco, and James F. McKeown.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for View Engineering, Inc., by Ernie L. Brooks and Frank A. Angileri; for the Dallas-Fort Worth Intellectual Property Law Association by D. Scott Hemingway and Louis Touton; for the Mas-Hamilton Group by David E. Schmit; and for the Patent, Trademark & Copyright Section of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia by Bruce T. Wieder.
1 "A person shall be entitled to a patent unless—
. . . . . "(b) 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, or . . . ." 35 U. S. C. § 102.
2 "A process is reduced to practice when it is successfully performed. A machine is reduced to practice when it is assembled, adjusted and used. A manufacture is reduced to practice when it is completely manufactured. A composition of matter is reduced to practice when it is completely composed." Corona Cord Tire Co. v. Dovan Chemical Corp., 276 U. S. 358, 383 (1928).
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