AFFIRMED-IN-PART
Tech Center 3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security, and License & Review
3682 Ex Parte Nicholas et al 10456826 - (D) KIM 103 103 CARDINAL LAW GROUP FRANK C. NICHOLAS DURAN, ARTHUR D
AFFIRMED
Tech Center 1600 Biotechnology and Organic Chemistry
1661 Ex Parte Meilland 12929715 - (D) McCOLLUM 102 BUCHANAN, INGERSOLL & ROONEY PC PARA, ANNETTE H
As with utility patents, “only an ‘enabling’ publication is effective as a bar [under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)] to a subsequent [plant] patent.” In re LeGrice, 301 F.2d 929, 1138 (CCPA 1962). However, “evidence of [a] foreign sale of a claimed reproducible plant variety may enable an otherwise non-enabled printed publication disclosing that plant, thereby creating a § 102(b) bar.” In re Elsner, 381 F.3d 1125, 1128 (Fed. Cir. 2004). In particular,
[w]hen a publication identifies the plant that is invented or discovered and a foreign sale occurs that puts one of ordinary skill in the art in possession of the plant itself, which, based on the level of ordinary skill in the art, permits asexual reproduction without undue experimentation, that combination of facts and events so directly conveys the essential knowledge of the invention that the sale combines with the publication to erect a statutory bar.
Id. at 1129.
“[T]he precise focus of the analysis is not whether the foreign sales are themselves § 102(b) prior art, but whether the publication has placed the claimed invention in the possession of the public before the critical date.” Id. at 1129-30. In this regard, the Elsner court explained that “[t]he foreign sale must not be an obscure, solitary occurrence that would go unnoticed by those skilled in the art. Its availability must have been known in the art, just as a printed publication must be publicly available.” Id. at 1131. In addition, the Elsner court explained that, “even if the interested public would readily know of the foreign sales, those sales [must] enable[ ] one of ordinary skill in the art to reproduce the claimed plants without undue experimentation.” Id.
LeGrice, In re, 301 F.2d 929, 133 USPQ 365 (CCPA 1962) 2121.03
Elsner, In re,381 F.3d 1125, 72 USPQ2d 1038 (Fed. Cir. 2004) 2121.03
Tech Center 1700 Chemical & Materials Engineering
1793 Ex Parte Parsons et al 11736907 - (D) TIMM 103 BANNER & WITCOFF, LTD. MCCLAIN-COLEMAN, TYNESHA L.
1793 Ex Parte Akahori et al 11177352 - (D) PAK 103 37 C.F.R. 41.50 103 WESTERMAN, HATTORI, DANIELS & ADRIAN, LLP GEORGE, PATRICIA ANN
Tech Center 2100 Computer Architecture and Software
2184 Ex Parte Pennock et al 11771764 - (D) NAPPI 103 Brooks Kushman P.C./Harman HASSAN, AURANGZEB
Tech Center 2600 Communications
2659 Ex Parte Ma 11277793 - (D) FISHMAN 103 MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC HE, JIALONG
Tech Center 2800 Semiconductors, Electrical and Optical Systems and Components
2889 Ex Parte Fechter et al 10674275 - (D) WEINBERG 102 Paul F. Wille QUARTERMAN, KEVIN J
Tech Center 3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security, and License & Review
3646 Ex Parte Norin et al 11595416 - (D) GROSSMAN 103 THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC. ISSING, GREGORY C
3674 Ex Parte Datta 11121872 - (D) HORNER 103 MIRICK, O'CONNELL, DEMALLIE & LOUGEE, LLP PICKARD, ALISON K
Tech Center 3700 Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing, and Products & Design
3715 Ex Parte Guten et al 11146575 - (D) KAUFFMAN 103 RENNER, KENNER, GRIEVE, BOBAK, TAYLOR & WEBER EGLOFF, PETER RICHARD
3773 Ex Parte Brown et al 11431171 - (D) FREDMAN 103 NIKOLAI & MERSEREAU, P.A. DORNBUSCH, DIANNE
