Opinion ID: 602466
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: derivation and priority

Text: 10 Although derivation and priority of invention are akin in that both focus on inventorship and both may be resolved by the board in an interference action, they are distinct concepts. Applegate v. Scherer, 332 F.2d 571, 573 & n. 1, 141 USPQ 796, 798 & n. 1 (CCPA 1964). A claim that a patentee derived an invention addresses originality--who invented the subject matter of the count? Hedgewick v. Akers, 497 F.2d 905, 907, 182 USPQ 167, 168 (CCPA 1974). Under this attack on a patent or patent application, the proponent asserts that the patentee did not invent the subject matter of the count because the patentee derived the invention from another. Davis v. Reddy, 620 F.2d 885, 882 n. 2, 205 USPQ 1065, 1068 n. 2 (CCPA 1980). To prove derivation in an interference proceeding, the person attacking the patent must establish prior conception of the claimed subject matter and communication of the conception to the adverse claimant. Hedgewick, 497 F.2d at 908, 182 USPQ at 169; Mead v. McKirnan, 585 F.2d 504, 507, 199 USPQ 513, 515 (CCPA 1978). While the ultimate question of whether a patentee derived an invention from another is one of fact, Hedgewick, 497 F.2d at 908, 182 USPQ at 169; Beall v. Ormsby, 154 F.2d 663, 667, 69 USPQ 314, 318 (CCPA 1946), the determination of whether there was a prior conception is a question of law, Fiers v. Sugano, 984 F.2d 1164, 1168-69, 25 USPQ2d 1601, 1604 (Fed.Cir.1993), which is based upon subsidiary factual findings. 11 Contrasted to derivation, a claim to priority of invention does not question whether the patentee invented the subject matter of the count, but instead focuses on which party first invented the subject matter of the count. Priority goes to the first party to reduce an invention to practice unless the other party can show that it was the first to conceive the invention and that it exercised reasonable diligence in later reducing that invention to practice. 1 Lutzker v. Plet, 843 F.2d 1364, 1366, 6 USPQ2d 1370, 1371 (Fed.Cir.1988). Priority is a question of law which is to be determined based upon underlying factual determinations. See Brokaw v. Vogel, 429 F.2d 476, 480, 166 USPQ 428, 431 (CCPA 1970).