What is the nexus requirement for secondary considerations in patent law?
The nexus requirement is crucial when presenting secondary considerations as evidence of nonobviousness. According to MPEP 716.01(b):
“To be given substantial weight in the determination of obviousness or nonobviousness, evidence of secondary considerations must be relevant to the subject matter as claimed, and therefore the examiner must determine whether there is a nexus between the merits of the claimed invention and the evidence of secondary considerations.”
A nexus is a factually and legally sufficient connection between the objective evidence and the claimed invention. It ensures that the evidence is actually related to the unique aspects of the invention being claimed, rather than to features already known in the prior art.
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