1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Do “Secret Sales” Trigger the On-Sale Bar to Patentability under the America Invents Act? Updated January 25, 2019 UPDATE (January 25, 2019): On January 22, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in H
2、elsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. Justice Thomass opinion for a unanimous Court held that a commercial sale of an invention to a third party who is required to keep an invention confidential places an invention “on sale” within the meaning of the Patent Act. The Court reaffirmed it
3、s holding in Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc. that a patentable invention is considered “on sale” if it is (1) “the subject of a commercial offer for sale”; and (2) “ready for patenting.” More specifically, the Court concluded that the 2011 America Invents Acts addition of a new catchall category of
4、 prior art that is “otherwise available to the public” did not alter the “well-settled meaning” of the on-sale bar, which requires an inventor to apply for a patent within one year after an invention is on sale. The original post on Helsinn v. Teva, from December 3, 2018, is reproduced below. In gen
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