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An interference proceeding, also known as priority contest, is an inter partes proceeding to determine the priority issues of multiple patent applications. It is a unique patent law concept of the United States. Unlike most other country that adopts the first to file system, the first to invent system of the U.S. allows a party who failed to file a patent application on time to challenge the inventorship against another party with a granted or pending patent if certain requirements are met. Legal proceedings to which all parties have been notified and given the opportunity to attend are referred to as inter partes (between parties in Latin) proceedings. ...
A patent application is a request filed before a patent office in which an applicant applies for a patent for an invention. ...
A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or substance (known as an invention) which is new, inventive and useful. ...
The first to file policy is a world-wide mainstream patent law doctrine used by nearly the whole world save the United States and the Philippines. ...
The first to invent policy is a controversial patent law doctrine only used in the United States to decide which inventor shall be awarded a patent in case two or more of them reached the same invention independently at about the same time. ...
In patent law, an inventor is the person, or persons in United States patent law, who contribute to the claims of a patentable invention. ...
Definition The interference proceeding is an administrative proceeding conducted by an administrative law judge (administrative patent judge) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to determine which applicant is not entitled to the patent if the same invention is claimed: An administrative proceeding is a non-judicial determination of fault or guilt and may include in some cases penalties of various forms. ...
An administrative law judge (ALJ) in the United States is an official who presides at an administrative trial-type hearing. ...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification. ...
In lay terms, an invention is a novel device, material, or technique. ...
- in two pending applications, or
- in one pending application and a patent issued within a year of the pending application's filing date.
The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, a quasi-judicial body in the USPTO, hears interference contests. Its final judgment designating one party in an interference contest as the first inventor is called priority award or simply award. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit hears appeals from this tribunal. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, or simply the Federal Circuit, was founded in 1982 to combine similar federal cases to a specialized appellate court. ...
This article is about the legal term. ...
Parties At least two parties are involved in an interference proceeding. The inventor who filed patent application earlier is called "senior party", the rest of the inventors are "junior parties". Both parties can be referred as "contestants", but currently, it is more likely used to describe the junior party. - Senior party: Merely being the first to file the application does not grant a party legal protection. It only counted as prima facie evidence that he/she is the first inventor. It can also file a "motion to dissolve interference" to request the dismissal of challenges to its priority.
- Junior party: Party or parties other than the senior party. A junior party bears the burden of proving that he or she is the first inventor. The proceeding's administrator takes certain factors, say the invention's conception date and the inventor's diligence in reducing the invention to practice, into account. Before 1960s, a junior party were frequently called "interferant".
Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning at first sight, used in common law regions to denote a case that is strong enough to justify further discovery and possibly a full trial. ...
Burden of proof is the obligation to prove allegations which are presented in a legal action. ...
Due diligence is the effort a party makes to avoid harm to another party. ...
The reduction to practice is a United States patent law concept. ...
The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ...
Burden of proof The burden of proof issues are defined in 37 C.F.R. 1.657: Burden of proof is the obligation to prove allegations which are presented in a legal action. ...
The United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. ...
- (a) A rebuttable presumption shall exist that, as to each count, the inventors made their invention in the chronological order of their effective filing dates. The burden of proof shall be upon a party who contends otherwise.
- (b) In an interference involving copending applications or involving a patent and an application having an effective filing date on or before the date the patent issued, a junior party shall have the burden of establishing priority by a preponderance of the evidence.
- (c) In an interference involving an application and a patent and where the effective filing date of the application is after the date the patent issued, a junior party shall have the burden of establishing priority by clear and convincing evidence.
In law, a rebuttable presumption is an assumption that is made that will stand as a fact unless someone comes forward to contest it and prove otherwise. ...
Preponderance of the evidence is the level of burden of persuasion typically employed in the civil procedure and administrative law. ...
Clear and convincing evidence is the intermediate level of burden of persuasion sometimes employed in the civil procedure. ...
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