Fore! – Court takes swing at printed publications as bars to patentability

Description

Abstract: The Federal Patent Act prohibits the patenting of an invention that was described in a printed publication more than one year before its patent application is filed. But what is a “printed publication”? In this case, an inventor argued that his rejected manuscript did not qualify as a printed publication because no evidence indicated it was included in a catalog or index at that time that would have allowed an interested party to locate it. A sidebar lists three similar cases. In re Lister, No. 09-1060, 2009 (Fed. Cir.); In re Hall, 781 F.2d 897, 1986 (Fed. Cir.); In re Bayer, 568 F.2d 1357, 1978 (CCPA); In re Cronyn, 890 F.2d 1158, 1989 (Fed. Cir.)