Intellectual Property Boston College Law School March 3, 2008 Patent - Nonobviousness
Requirements (1) Patentable Subject Matter (2) Novelty (3) Utility (4) Nonobviousness (5) Enablement
Nonobviousness 35 U.S.C. § 103. Conditions for patentability; non-obvious subject matter. –“A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 … if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains …”
Nonobviousness Factors in the analysis –(1) Scope and content of prior art –(2) Differences between invention and prior art –(3) Level of ordinary skill in the art –(4) “Secondary considerations” Commercial success Long-felt but unsolved needs Failure of others to invent Copying by others
Chisel Plow
Graham v. John Deere
KSR v. Teleflex
Administrative Next Assignment –Finish IV.B.5 – Nonobviousness –Read IV.C.1 – Claim Interpretation