Federal Circuit Rulings Reinforce Need for Timely Public Disclosure in Patent Filings

Recent rulings from the Federal Circuit have underscored the importance of timely and public disclosure of inventions. In Sanho v. Kaijet and Celanese International v. International Trade Commission, the court held that secret sales do not meet the requirements for public disclosure, emphasizing that inventors must publicly disclose their inventions and file patent applications within a year of any public disclosure. Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens note that these decisions serve as a crucial reminder to inventors about the risks associated with non-public disclosures and the one-year timeline for filing patent applications.