Can a thesis in a university library be considered prior art?

This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.

Yes, a thesis in a university library can be considered prior art if it is sufficiently accessible to the public. According to MPEP 2128.01:

“A doctoral thesis indexed and shelved in a library is sufficiently accessible to the public to constitute prior art as a ‘printed publication.’”

This principle was established in the case of In re Hall, where the court found that general library cataloging and shelving practices were sufficient to make a doctoral thesis available to the public. However, the level of indexing and cataloging is important. In contrast, the In re Cronyn case showed that theses merely indexed by student name in a shoebox were not considered sufficiently accessible.