Intellectual Property » In Patent Applications, You Can Disclose Too Much

In Patent Applications, You Can Disclose Too Much

September 10, 2014

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In a patent application, writes Brinks Gilson & Lione attorney Michael Gzybowski, there is an important distinction between meeting the “enablement” requirement and actually explaining how an invention works. The former is a requirement. The latter is not, and doing it presents some risks, among them the risk that the examiners will come to understand the underpinnings of the invention so well that it will move them to deem it “obvious.” Disclosure of information to for enablement purposes does not require “excessive” detail, the writer says, and he quotes a U.S. Patent Office board holding, saying the law “does not require a specification to be a blueprint in order to satisfy the requirement for enablement.”

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