How does an interference proceeding affect patent priority?

An interference proceeding is specifically designed to determine patent priority when multiple parties claim the same invention. According to MPEP 2301:

“An interference is declared to assist the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in determining priority, that is, which party first invented the commonly claimed invention within the meaning of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(g)(1).”

The interference proceeding affects patent priority in several ways:

• It establishes which party was the first to invent the claimed subject matter
• The Board enters a final judgment on questions of priority
• The outcome can bar an applicant from taking actions inconsistent with lost issues in the interference
• It can affect the patentability of claims in the involved applications or patents

Essentially, the interference proceeding serves as the USPTO’s mechanism for resolving priority disputes under the pre-AIA first-to-invent system.

To learn more:

• interference proceeding
• patent priority
• first-to-invent
• pre-AIA
• USPTO