TYCO HEALTHCARE GRP. LP v. ETHICON ENDO-SURGERY, INC. (Fed. Cir. 2014) (P) – Secret section 102(g) prior art may still serve as prior art under section 103

by | Dec 4, 2014 | [sub] invention by another, Prior Art

Absent the application of a statutory exception (e.g. § 103(c)), secret § 102(g) prior art may serve as prior art under § 103 for the purposes of establishing obviousness. Here, for example, the accused infringer’s prototype, which was conceived before the patented...

SOLVAY, S.A. v. HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL (Fed. Cir. 2014) (P) – Invention conceived by a foreign inventor and reduced to practice in the U.S. as prior art under § 102(g)(2)

by | Feb 12, 2014 | [sub] invention by another, Prior Art

The doctrine of inurement, defining when the activities of others inure to the benefit of an inventor, does not require that the prior inventor under § 102(g)(2) expressly request or direct a non-inventor reducing the invention to practice to perform the reductive...