Ensuring an Inventor's Patent Rights: Recent Supreme Court Case Clarifies Timing of Application

Patent law encourages the development and transfer of technology by making the information regarding new inventions public knowledge, while providing the inventor with the right to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention for 20 years. Because the exclusive rights to the invention are limited in time, and to prevent the inventor from gaining additional time, the application for a patent must be filed within a statutorily prescribed time. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc. clarified one aspect related to the timing of the patent application. This article specifically examines the Pfaff case and the question of when an invention subject to a contract to sell exists as it relates to the timing of patent applications.