What is the significance of “efficacy” in determining prior art operability for patent examinations?

In patent examinations, the “efficacy” of a prior art reference is not a determining factor for its operability. As stated in MPEP 2121.02:

“A prior art reference provides an enabling disclosure and thus anticipates a claimed invention if the reference describes the claimed invention in sufficient detail to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to carry out the claimed invention; ‘proof of efficacy is not required for a prior art reference to be enabling for purposes of anticipation.'”

This means that:

• A prior art reference can be considered operable even if it’s not highly effective.
• The reference only needs to enable a person of ordinary skill to practice the invention.
• Lack of efficacy does not automatically disqualify a reference as prior art.

Examiners focus on whether the reference enables the claimed invention, not on how well it performs.

To learn more:

• prior art
• operability
• efficacy
• patent examination