How does a Joint Research Agreement affect prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C)?
A Joint Research Agreement (JRA) can significantly affect how prior art is considered under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C). According to MPEP 2156:
“35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) provides that disclosures shall not be prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) if the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, were owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person.”
In the context of a JRA, this means that if the requirements of the agreement are met, inventions made by different parties to the agreement are treated as if they were owned by the same person. This effectively disqualifies certain disclosures from being used as prior art against each other’s patent applications, even if they would otherwise qualify under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This provision encourages collaboration between different entities by removing the risk of their joint work being used against each other in patent proceedings.
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