35 USC 102(a)(2): another inventor
“A person shall be entitled to a patent unless — the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.”
The AIA defines an “inventor” as:
- The individual or the individuals who invented or discovered the subject matter of a patent application
The AIA also defines “joint inventor” and “co-inventor” as
- Any of the individuals who invented or discovered the subject matter of a joint invention
Inventive entities: On a patent application, both inventor and joint inventors are considered “inventive entities”
“A person shall be entitled to a patent unless — the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.”
- SO, in summary (thus far): The following documents would be considered as prior art:
- An already-published patent or application that describes your claimed invention (which is in an application under examination (or a patent under reexamination)
- Documents which list inventors filed prior to the patent application, and there is a difference between the inventors listed on the previous documents and the application under examination.
- The second point often comes into play with Joint inventions
- Only one inventor listed on the previous document needs to be different in order to qualify that document as prior art
- All the other inventors could be identical/the same. Just one difference, and it makes that document prior art.