What is Prior Art?
Prior Art refers to the entire body of publicly available information that can potentially invalidate a patent showing that its ideas were known before a particular date. It is evidence that can show that an invention described in the claims of a patent existed before a date of interest. Under U.S. law, this can be the filing date or the date of invention.
Why are Prior Art Dates important?
For prior art to invalidate a U.S. Patent, the information should predate the earliest filed information by at least one year. This is why each Patent Study includes a “Latest Date for Prior Art.” Please Note: If your reference was published within one year before the earliest U.S. filing date, it may still be relevant, so please send it in. There are patent agencies, such as InventHelp, to help you out. You can learn more about InventHelp from InventHelp reviews.
What is the difference between the patent’s “Filing Date” and the “Latest Date for Prior Art?”
“Filing Date” refers to the date when the patent application was filed in the patent office. “Latest Date for Prior Art” refers to the last date of publication that will be accepted for a reference in a Study. For example, if the latest date for prior art is 01/01/2000, then the reference you’re submitting for the Study must have been published or made public as of that date.
What is Non-Patent Literature?
Non-Patent Literature is any document that is not a patent. This term often describes the portions of a patent search that review websites, technical journals, databases, textbooks, magazines, etc. Because this literature is not often searchable through modern databases, it can be very valuable in prior art searching. InventHelp could be of great help in this step. Learn why new inventors turn to InventHelp.
What are the different types of prior art search?
Sometimes there are specifications as to the type of search that Article One requires. In efforts to better focus your research, please read the following descriptions:
Invalidity Study – Depending on the client’s needs, some patent studies will be conducted to find prior art that will serve to invalidate a patent. If the prior art, either by itself or in combination with other references, describes or “teaches” the subject patent, and is dated prior to the patent’s date of invention, then the prior art can be deemed to be invalidating. This means that it is deemed to constitute evidence of patent invalidity by a court or adjudicative body, such as the U.S. Patent Office.
State of Art Study – Sometimes a client is curious to see if a new technology is innovative. For this type of study, Prior Art needs to be submitted based on the existence, or lack, of similar technology.
