What factors indicate an experimental purpose in patent law?

The MPEP outlines several factors that courts consider in determining whether a claimed invention was offered for sale primarily for experimental purposes:

• Necessity for public testing
• Inventor’s control over the experiment
• Nature of the invention
• Length of the test period
• Whether payment was made
• Presence of a secrecy obligation
• Record-keeping of the experiment
• Who conducted the experiment
• Degree of commercial exploitation during testing
• Whether the invention requires evaluation under actual conditions of use
• Systematic performance of testing
• Continuous monitoring by the inventor
• Nature of contacts with potential customers

As stated in the MPEP, “Another critical attribute of experimentation is the ‘customer’s awareness of the purported testing in the context of a sale.'” (MPEP 2133.03(e)(4))

To learn more:

• experimental purpose
• patent law
• factors
• customer awareness