In this case, the Federal Circuit reiterated the requirements of a "commercial offer for sale" (the first prong of the Pfaff test) under the on-sale bar:
While the Supreme Court has not explained what is necessary for a "commercial offer for sale," we have held that two elements are necessary. Namely, a court must find that (1) there was a "commercial offer"; and (2) that offer was for the patented invention. Scaltech, Inc. v. Retec/Tetra, L.L.C., 269 F.3d 1321, 1328 (Fed. Cir. 2001). (emphasis added).
Here, Spartan had submitted an Engineering Change Proposal prior to the critical date. Interestingly, both parties had agreed that was was submitted in the ECP was not the patented invention. There was no evidence that Spartan had offered for sale anything other than what was listed in the ECP. Because the subject matter of the offer for sale must anticipate the claimed invention, the Federal Circuit reversed and found that 102(b) had not been violated because it failed the first prong of the Pfaff test.
No comments:
Post a Comment