What is an example of expert skepticism in patent law?
The MPEP provides a specific example of expert skepticism in patent law:
The patented process converted all the sulfur compounds in a certain effluent gas stream to hydrogen sulfide, and thereafter treated the resulting effluent for removal of hydrogen sulfide. Before learning of the patented process, chemical experts, aware of earlier failed efforts to reduce the sulfur content of effluent gas streams, were of the opinion that reducing sulfur compounds to hydrogen sulfide would not adequately solve the problem.
(MPEP 716.05)
This example illustrates several key aspects of expert skepticism:
- The experts were knowledgeable in the field
- There were previous failed attempts to solve the problem
- The experts expressed doubt about the proposed solution
- The invention ultimately proved the experts wrong
Such evidence of expert skepticism can be powerful in demonstrating the nonobviousness of an invention, particularly when the invention succeeds where experts predicted failure.
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