inoperative

inoperative, adj.

1. Having no force or effect; not operative (an inoperative statute).

2. Patents. (Of an invention), the condition of not being capable of functioning as described in the patent application.

“An invention is inoperative if an exemplification, built exactly as described in the patent, won’t operate, or if further experiment and invention are required to make it operate.” Roger Sherman Hoar, Patent Tactics and the Law 37 (3d ed. 1950).

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