In re Mulder
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
716 F.2d 1542, 219 U.S.P.Q. 189 (1983)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
The Philips Corporation and its Netherlands affiliate, N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken (the applicants), sought to patent an integrated circuit. A patent application was prepared in the Netherlands and sent to the United States, where it was received on July 15, 1974. The Netherlands patent application, which was filed on October 9, 1974, was the applicants’ first shown reduction to practice. The U.S. patent application was filed on August 6, 1975. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) gave the U.S. patent application the benefit of the earlier Netherlands filing date. However, the application was denied on the ground of obviousness because a printed journal article (the Rodgers article) had disclosed the invention on October 7, 1974, two days before the earlier Netherlands filing date. The applicants appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, arguing that the draft patent application should defeat the priority of the Rodgers article.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rich, J.)
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