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Contents |
In most patent [4] laws [5], prior art or state of the art [6] is all information [7] that has been disclosed to the public in any form before a given date. However, under United States Patent Law [8], non-public prior art, such as a sale carried out in secret (e.g., under a non-disclosure agreement [9]), qualifies as prior art in certain circumstances. In Europe [10], prior art does not include information kept secret, whether from trade secrecy [11] or just a simple lack of interest in publication. (cited from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_Art [12])
- 60 minutes easy listening introduction on Prior Art
- Slides: http://www.pubpat.org/Finding_Prior_Art/PUBPAT%20Finding%20Prior%20Art%20Slides.pdf [13]
- Audio Portion of Finding Prior Art for an Issued Patent Program - ca. 60 minutes OGG [14] 39MB / MP3 [15] 44MB
- Published publically (this includes web publishing)
- Understandable by a person of regular skill in the field.
The Prior Art has the following properties associated with it
- Author
- Publication date (not necessarily the public publication date?)
- The art itself (or a reference to it, if copyright considerations prohibit including the art itself)
- If the art itself is not understandable by a person of regular skill in the field, it must be accompanied by appropriate explanatory material.
Things easily showing a "publication date"
- version-control archives
- mailing list archives
- Usenet archives
- Books
- Magazines
- TV-Shows / Videos
- Papers
- CDs / DVDs
- Bills
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