Post-AIA Patents Cleared To Ignore 2015 Prior Art Precedent

Scott Weidenfeller’s commentary was included in a Law360 article discussing a decision by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal that post-America Invents Act patent holders don't have to worry about a Federal Circuit ruling regarding the relationship between priority applications and follow-up applications in prior art analysis. Scott commented on what made the decision significant and how it will affect patent applications.

"The reason it's precedential is because we don't even have to worry about this in the AIA world. Even if the disclosure is in the earlier application or patent, if it's not claimed in a claim — or a proposed claim in the case of an application — you can't use it," Scott said.