Re: Tunisian trademarks (Was: Open letter to Kelsey Grammer)

On 11/25/98, Thomas Workman <tworkman[_at_]erols.com> wrote:
>
> To build on what Carl stated:
>
> USA Patent law prohibits a patent on any invention that was disclosed
> more than one year prior to the application for a patent. This is
> referred to as the "on sale" bar, since often the disclosure is in the
> form of an offer for sale. Recent caselaw indicates that the invention
> need not be reduced to practice (that is, if you approach someone and
> offer a widget for sale, and you have not yet invented the widget, the
> one year time period begins to run from your first encounter with your
> prospective customer).

I think you are referring to the Supreme Court's recent decision in Pfaff v. Wells. It does not suggest that the on-sale bar can be triggered by an offer if "you have not yet invented the widget" -- only that the widget you have invented need not be reduced to practice. The invention must still be complete (not just "substantially complete") and patentable, e.g., even without a reduction to practice, "the inventor had prepared drawings or other descriptions of the invention that were sufficiently specific to enable a person skilled in the art to practice the invention."

John Noble
<jnoble[_at_]dgsys.com> Received on Mon Nov 30 1998 - 14:08:22 GMT