abandoned invention

An invention that an inventor has either deliberately stopped trying to exploit, or else acted in a way that precludes claiming the invention in a later patent.

• Under § 102(c) of the Patent Act, abandonment bars a patent on that invention. But abandonment of an imperfect form of an invention does not bar a patent on a later-perfected form. Unless publicly known, an abandoned invention is not prior art to a later inventor. Under § 102(g) of the Patent Act, abandonment of the same invention by a first inventor also prevents the first inventor from blocking the second inventor’s patent application in an interference. Cf. ABANDONED APPLICATION.

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