Prior Art under 35 USC §102 Jeffrey T. Burgess, Loza & Loza LLP

102(a)(2) Prior Art? 102(a)(1) Prior Art? Not prior art under 102(a)(1).

Categories of Prior Art Start Is the potential prior art one of the following?  A USA Patent  A USA Patent Applicaton Pre-Grant Publication (PGPUB) NO  A Publication of an International PCT Application Designating Categories of Prior Art the USA Is the potential prior art one of the following types of disclosure?  Patent YES NO  Printed Publication  The claimed invention was in Public Use Different Named Inventor(s)?  The claimed invention was On Sale Does the patent/PGPUB name an inventor who is not NO  The claimed invention was Otherwise available to the public also a named inventor of the claimed invention? YES YES Statutory Bar Was Someone Else the First to File? NO Was the disclosure of the potential prior art made before Was the patent/PGPUB effectively filed* before the effective NO the effective filing date of the claimed invention? filing date of the claimed invention? *See 102(d) for the definition of the effective filing date of a patent/PGPUB YES

YES Grace Period This qualifies as Not prior art Was the disclosure of the potential prior art made greater than 1 prior art under Was the invention stolen from the inventor(s)? 102(b)(2)(A) under 102(a)(2). year before the effective filing date of the claimed invention? YES 102(a)(1). Did the party who made the disclosure of the potential prior art obtain the subject matter of their disclosure either directly or indirectly from YES NO the inventor or a joint inventor of the claimed invention? Who made the disclosure? 102(b)(1)(A) NO Was the disclosure of the potential prior art made only* by one of the following parties?  The inventor of the claimed invention Was there an earlier disclosure? 102(b)(2)(B) YES  A joint inventor of the claimed invention Before the effective filing date* of the patent/PGPUB, had the subject matter of the  Someone else who obtained the subject matter that was disclosed, either directly patent/PGPUB also been publicly disclosed by any one of the following parties? or indirectly, from an inventor or a joint inventor. *  The inventor of the claimed invention See MPEP 2153.01(a): this exception does not apply if the disclosure names any additional person as a joint YES author or joint inventor.  A joint inventor of the claimed invention  Someone else who obtained the subject matter that was disclosed, either directly or indirectly, from an inventor or a joint inventor NO * See 102(d) for the definition of the effective filing date of a patent/PGPUB Was there an earlier disclosure? 102(b)(1)(B) Before the disclosure of the potential prior art, had the subject matter of the disclosure of NO the potential prior art also been publicly disclosed by any one of the following parties? YES  The inventor of the claimed invention Common Ownership? 102(b)(2)(C)  A joint inventor of the claimed invention * NO This qualifies as NO Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, were the YES  Someone else who obtained the subject matter that was disclosed, either directly or prior art under patent/PGPUB and the claimed invention owned by the same person, indirectly, from an inventor or a joint inventor or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person? ** 102(a)(2). *See 102(d) for the definition of the effective filing date of a claimed invention **See 102(c) for definition of common ownership under joint research agreement