Source: http://allthingspros.blogspot.com/2011/09/
Timestamp: 2019-01-16 01:17:38
Document Index: 30931161

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 112', '§ 102', '§ 103', '§ 102', '§ 102', '§ 102']

In prosecution, a reference that is dated a few days or weeks before your application's filing date may provide an opportunity to swear behind the reference. But if you follow the conventional approach of using an invention disclosure document as evidence of conception, that may involve showing diligence for a long period up to filing of the application. What if you could use a draft of your patent application as evidence of conception? Now the diligence period would probably be much shorter. [If you need a refresher on swear-behind declarations, conception, and diligence, see my posts here, here, and here.]
I think using a draft application as evidence of conception is a viable strategy, given the right facts. I ran across a file history and corresponding BPAI opinion where the Applicant tried something like this, but blew it by not submitting the right documents as evidence of conception until it was too late. In a future post, I'll explain what went wrong in that case, and some lessons to be learned. This post will explain when and how to use a draft patent application as evidence of conception. I can't promise you this strategy will work -- I haven't run across any another file histories where this came up. So read through my explanation and decide for yourself.
A draft application is great evidence of conception in that – unlike an invention disclosure or technical paper – it's specifically written to describe and enable the claims. However, unlike an invention disclosure or technical paper, it's not written by the inventor. So on its face, an unfiled application may not appear to show conception by the inventor. This is the first obstacle to be addressed in using a draft application as evidence of conception.
I think inventor approval can provide this missing link. If the inventor approved the application for filing before the effective reference date, then I think we have conception by the inventor before the critical date. Along the same lines, an executed declaration of inventorship can provide the missing link. An inventorship declaration that is executed by at least one inventor before the effective reference date shows conception by the inventor.
If you don't have inventor approval/execution before the effective reference date, is the game over? Maybe not. If you can show that the application actually filed has no significant differences as compared to a draft application in existence before the critical date, doesn't that also provide the missing link? Doesn't that also show that the draft application reflects the inventor's conception? After all, the inventor later signed an inventorship declaration attesting that a very similar document described his invention.
So I think that under any of these fact scenarios, you have evidence of conception before the critical date. Of course, you still need evidence of diligence in filing, even if it's only for a few days or weeks. But that's going to be easier to deal with than the typical diligence period, because that starts much earlier when an invention disclosure is filed with the employer.
As with any swear-behind declaration, a swear-behind relying on a draft patent application as evidence of conception should explain the correspondence between sections of the relied-upon document (in this situation, the draft patent application) and the elements of the pending claims. (See my previous posts mentioned above for more information.) The swear-behind declaration should also include an affirmative statement by the inventors that the draft application describes the claims. You should submit the draft application, as supporting evidence, along with the swear-behind declaration. You should also submit evidence that the draft was in existence as of the effective reference date.
Labels: declaration, evidence, swear behind
Takeaway: In an application directed to a "compressed tank system" for use in a vehicle fuel cell, the Examiner objected to the drawings for not illustrating the vehicle or the fuel cell. The Examiner then found the Applicant's drawing amendments unacceptable because they introduced new matter. The Petitions Office ruled that the objection was correct because the new drawings showed the location of the tank system in relation to the fuel cell and vehicle, where the originally filed application was silent on these locations. Despite an outstanding drawing objection, the Examiner passed the application to issue when the BPAI reversed all rejections.
Application 10/967,889 to Sachs (available in Public PAIR)
The Applicant filed an application titled "Heatable Hydrogen Pressure Regulator". The claims were directed to a "compressed tank system." The application included two figures, each illustrating an embodiment of a "compressed hydrogen tank system."
Several of the claims referred to a fuel system on a vehicle. For example, dependent claim 7 read "[t]he tank system according to claim 6 wherein the tank system is associated with a fuel cell system on a vehicle." Also, the preamble of independent claim 16 read "[a] compressed tank system for a fuel cell system on a vehicle, said tank system comprising ... "
While the application was still on appeal to the BPAI, the Technology Center Director issued a Petition Decision, ruling that the drawing objection was proper. The Decision explained that "there is no support in the original disclosure which shows the relative location of the fuel cell and the compressed tank system in the vehicle" yet "proposed figure 1 now clearly shows where the fuel cell system and the compressed tank system is located in relation with each other in the vehicle." Therefore, the new drawings did introduce new matter, and the objection to the drawings for introducing new matter was proper.
Four years later, the BPAI issued a decision reversing all the rejections (§ 112 First, § 102, and § 103). The Examiner then issued a Notice of Allowance which allowed all pending claims. No mention was made of the drawings or the outstanding drawing objection. The Applicant paid the Issue Fee, and the patent issued.
Labels: drawings, new matter, objection, petition
Takeaway: The Examiner rejected claims under § 102(b) as being anticipated by a WIPO publication in French, as evidenced by a US patent publication by the same inventor. On appeal, the Applicant argued that the rejection was improper because the Examiner did not provide a translation of the WIPO publication nor show that the US patent publication was the same as the WIPO publication. In the Answer, the Examiner explained that the US patent publication was the national stage entry of the WIPO international publication. The Board found the rejection was proper because the Examiner had shown that both publications corresponded to the same document, and the Applicant did not refute this finding. The Board then affirmed the anticipation rejection on the merits.
Decided August 30, 2011
In a non-final Office Action, the Examiner rejected a set of claims under § 102(b) as anticipated by a French language publication, WO 03/060256 to Grau, "with evidence by Grau (U.S. 2005/0115181) and Bollinger [a 2003 publication of the periodical Hardwood Floors." The Examiner further indicated that "Grau '181 is interpreted as the English equivalent to [French] Grau '256."
In response, the Applicant distinguished the claims from Grau. However the Applicant also questioned the use of an anticipation rejection using multiple references, and the use of Grau '181 in particular. The Applicant cited to MPEP 2131.01, which explains three scenarios in which multiple references are proper. The Applicant argued that the Examiner "did not identify any of these purposes [in MPEP 2131.01] in the citation of the additional two documents." The Applicant also noted that English language Grau '181 is not prior art under § 102(b), since it was published after Applicant's priority date. As such, the Applicant concluded that "Grau '181 cannot be used as 'evidence' for the teaching of [French language] Grau '256."
In the subsequent final Office Action, the Examiner maintained the anticipation rejection and explained why the Applicant's arguments were not persuasive. The Examiner did remove Bollinger from the rejection, but maintained "Grau (WO 03/060256) evidence by Grau (US 2005/0115181)." The Examiner explained that "Grau '181 is not cited as prior art but rather as the English translation of Grau '256." The Examiner noted that the burden had shifted to the Applicant: "If Applicant believes that the translation of Grau '256 is not accurate as relied on the Applicant is requested to point out any such material discrepancy."
The Applicant filed an After Final Response which corrected a typographical error in the claims. The Applicant continued to argue that the anticipation rejection was not proper because Grau '256 "is not prior art under any applicable section of USC 102." The Applicant argued that the Examiner had improperly shifted the buden:
Labels: BPAI, foreign reference, prior art, translation