After claiming
Encyclopedia
After claiming is the practice of filing a US patent application
after the publication by a third party of a description of the same invention. This is possible in US patent law since an inventor has one year after the publication of the description of an invention to get a patent application on file.
In order to get the patent, however, the inventor must submit a declaration supported by evidence that he or she conceived of the invention before the third-party publication. The inventor must also provide evidence that he or she was diligent in either reducing the invention to practice or in filing the patent application.
invention. A Synteni competitor, Affymetrix
, filed a patent application describing almost exactly the same invention within six months. This patent application issued as . Affymetrix then sued Synteni for patent infringement
. The case was eventually settled with both parties cross-licensing
their patents to each other.
Patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...
after the publication by a third party of a description of the same invention. This is possible in US patent law since an inventor has one year after the publication of the description of an invention to get a patent application on file.
In order to get the patent, however, the inventor must submit a declaration supported by evidence that he or she conceived of the invention before the third-party publication. The inventor must also provide evidence that he or she was diligent in either reducing the invention to practice or in filing the patent application.
Example
On December 28, 1995, a Synteni (now Incyte Genomics) patent application WO/95/35505 was published describing a new microarrayMicroarray
A microarray is a multiplex lab-on-a-chip. It is a 2D array on a solid substrate that assays large amounts of biological material using high-throughput screening methods.Types of microarrays include:...
invention. A Synteni competitor, Affymetrix
Affymetrix
Affymetrix is a company that manufactures DNA microarrays; it is based in Santa Clara, California, United States. The company was founded by Dr. Stephen Fodor in 1992. It began as a unit in Affymax N.V...
, filed a patent application describing almost exactly the same invention within six months. This patent application issued as . Affymetrix then sued Synteni for patent infringement
Patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may vary by jurisdiction, but it typically includes using or...
. The case was eventually settled with both parties cross-licensing
Cross-licensing
A cross-licensing agreement is a contract between two or more parties where each party grants rights to their intellectual property to the other parties.-Patent law:...
their patents to each other.