What are interference and derivation proceedings in patent law?
Interference and derivation proceedings are legal processes in patent law that address situations where multiple parties claim rights to the same or similar inventions. While MPEP 1308.02 doesn’t provide detailed definitions, it mentions these terms in the context of withdrawing a patent application from issue:
“It may be necessary to withdraw a case from issue for reasons connected with an interference or derivation.”
Interference proceedings determine priority between two or more parties claiming the same patentable invention. Derivation proceedings determine whether an inventor named in an earlier application derived the claimed invention from an inventor named in the petitioner’s application. For more detailed information on these proceedings, refer to MPEP Chapter 2300.
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