Remedies for Fraud on the Patent Office
Kenneth L. Spector · The University of Chicago Law Review · 1974
Upon application to the Patent Office and compliance with the requirements of the Patent Act,' an inventor is granted 2 the right to prohibit others from manufacturing, selling, or using an invention claimed in a patent. 3 Although the Patent Office attempts to develop information relevant to each application, limited resources 4 and lack of access to relevant unpublished data force it to rely heavily on information submitted by applicants. 5 Even when disclosure is candid and complete, the Office sometimes issues patents that should not have been issued.The chances of error are obviously increased when an applicant (1970).The subject matter covered by the patent must be a "process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or... improvement thereof," id.§ 101, which is "new and useful," id., and not obvious from the prior art in the field, id.§ 103.The applicant must be the first inventor and must not have lost or abandoned the right to a patent, id.§ § 102(c), (f).The application must describe the invention in sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the relevant art to make and use the invention, id.§ 112, and the portion of the described matter that constitutes the invention must be distinctly claimed, id.