17 Sep
2012
17 Sep
'12
12:02 p.m.
On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 9:25 AM, David Riley <fraveydank at gmail.com> wrote:
Does prior art have to be patented? I'm certainly no lawyer, but I
was under the impression that what matters is that it existed before
the invention claimed, thus rendering the invention non-novel and
thus not valid for a patent. Thus, even though no one has patented
the wheel, you can't get a patent on it (though there are those who
have certainly managed to do so by hoodwinking the patent offices).
Is my understanding flawed? I'm certainly willing to believe it is.
I am also not a lawyer, but from pretty much everything I've read on this,
your
understanding is correct. I believe that prior art does not need to
be in the form of a patent. It just needs to show that the invention
existed prior to the patent application.
The Wikipedia page also seems to support this contention:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_art
- Earl