What is the standard for determining if a patent disclosure is enabling?
The standard for determining if a patent disclosure is enabling is based on the presumption that a skilled artisan can use the disclosure to produce the claimed invention. MPEP 716.07 states:
‘Further, since in a patent it is presumed that a process if used by one skilled in the art will produce the product or result described therein, such presumption is not overcome by a mere showing that it is possible to operate within the disclosure without obtaining the alleged product.’
This means that to prove a patent is not enabling, it’s not enough to show that one might fail to produce the invention; rather, it must be shown that a person skilled in the art would be unable to produce the invention following the patent’s disclosure.
To learn more: