Mark A. Barry v. Medtronic, Inc.
An invention is not “ready for patenting” until the invention has been tested in a variety of settings and is known to work for its intended purpose.
An invention is not “ready for patenting” until the invention has been tested in a variety of settings and is known to work for its intended purpose.
The Federal Circuit held a patent invalid under the 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) on-sale bar test of Pfaff because (1) the invention was ready for patenting, based on a declaration by the inventor that the invention was “reduced to practice,” and (2) the invention was the subject of a commercial sale, based on the fact that testers were invoiced for calls made during beta testing, prior to the critical date.
A purchase provision of an agreement otherwise related to research and development can constitute a commercial offer to sell a tangible item or good. An invention can be ready for patenting even though the patentee is unaware or unsure whether the limitations of the claims are met.
Infringement plaintiff’s use of claimed process for producing “transformable” cells in its own laboratories, more than one year before application for patent in suit was filed, was not “public use” that bars patentability, since plaintiff’s invention was not given or sold to “another,” or used to create product given or sold to another.