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掲載巻(発行年) / 号 / 頁	1巻(2001年) / 1号 / 43頁
論文区分	論説
論文名	Practical Considerations regarding Application of the “on-sale” Bar of 35 U.S.C.§102 (b)
著者	特許第2委員会
抄録	The U.S. Patent Act, Section 102(b), 35 U.S.C §102 (b), sets forth a so-called “on-sale bar”, providing that no one can obtain a patent for an invention that has been on sale more than one year before filing a patent application therefor. This “on-sale bar” is usually asserted as one of the grounds for invalidation of a patent by an accused party before the court. In an actual lawsuit, the issue is often contested whether or not an invention claimed as a patent has ever been on sale, so that the standard for the application of this on-sale bar has not necessarily been clear enough. However, the US Supreme Court made this issue clear in its decision of the Pfaff case in November 1998, ruling that the on-sale bar applies when 1) the product has been the subject of a commercial offer for sale; and 2) the invention has been ready for being patented. This article studies standard of the application of “on-sale bar” from the CAFC decisions given prior to the Pfaff case, and then examines the key factors of the Pfaff decision and its impact in order to provide the matters to be aware of in filling patent applications in US. The article has been published in “CHIZAI KANRI” (Intellectual Property Management) Vol. 50,No. 6, pp.761-773, 2000.