Prior Invention Under 102(g)(2)

TEVA PHARMACEUTICALS INDUSTRIES LTD. V. ASTRAZENECA PHARMACEUTICALS LP

• Prior invention under 102(g)(2) can be established by showing that the invention was first reduced to practice by another or that the invention was first conceived by another who then exercised reasonable diligence in reducing that invention to practice.




• Dow, Mycogen Plant Sciences, and Invitrogen are consistent applications of the same rule. To establish prior invention, the party asserting it must prove that it appreciated what it had made. The prior inventor does not need to know everything about how or why its invention worked. Nor must it conceive of its invention using the same words as the patentee would later use to claim it.