A public disclosure is any non-
confidential communication which an inventor or invention owner makes to one or more members of the public, revealing the existence of the
invention
An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...
and enabling an appropriately experienced individual ("
person having ordinary skill in the art
A person having ordinary skill in the art (abbreviated PHOSITA), a person of (ordinary) skill in the art (POSITA or PSITA), a person skilled in the art, a skilled addressee or simply a skilled person is a legal fiction found in many patent laws th ...
") to reproduce the invention. A public disclosure may be any form of non-confidential communication. For example an academic poster, presentation to a symposium/conference, website article, book chapter, academic journal article, or even an unguarded conversation in a car park.
Patent law
In some countries, public disclosure may result in the immediate loss of invention patentability unless a patent application has already been filed, and disclosure may be considered to include oral as well as written communication.
Australia
The Full Federal Court of Australia held in ''Fuchs Lubricants v Quaker Chemical'' that the
patent claim
In a patent or patent application, the claims define in technical terms the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. The claims particularly point out the subject matter whi ...
s lacked
novelty
Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...
due to public disclosures made by the inventor Mr Thomas before any patent applications were filed. The public disclosures arose in the following way. In about September–October 2010, Mr Thompson conceived the idea of using dyes in hydraulic fluid to enable detection of fluid injection injuries. He considered it would be necessary to conduct trials and experiments using hydraulic fluid in real operational mining equipment, so approached the engineering manager of Peabody Energy Australia Pty Ltd, which operated the Metropolitan mine in NSW. Mr Thompson disclosed the invention by explaining his proposed method (i.e., the invention) and discussed the possibility of running trials and experiments at the Metropolitan mine. A further disclosure occurred about a month later when, in the carpark of the Metropolitan mine, Mr Thompson demonstrated his invention to two Peabody managers. The Court found that these disclosures were not confidential and therefore constituted public disclosures that compromised the novelty of the invention.
United States
In the U.S., public disclosure of an invention results in the loss of
patentability
Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent. By extension, patentability also refers to the substantive conditions that must be met fo ...
of the invention after a period of one year.
establishes various statutory bars to invention patentability with regard to invention
novelty
Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...
; these explicit bars preclude patentability as exceptions to a general underlying entitlement. The public disclosure bar is one of the bars established in section 102 (b):
"(b) the invention was patented ''or described in a printed publication'' in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, ''more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent'' in the United States..."
"Printed publications" generally include all paper and electronic forms of publication. For example, books, scientific journals, posters, conference slide presentations, and website articles would all qualify as disclosure media.
See also
*
On-sale bar In United States patent law, the on-sale bar is a limitation on patentability codified at . It provides that an invention cannot be patented if it has been for sale for over one year prior to the patent filing.
35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)
(a) Novelty; Pri ...
References
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External links
35 U.S.C. 102 Conditions for patentability; novelty and loss of right to patent.
United States patent law
Disclosure