35 U.S.C. § 102 — Conditions for patentability; novelty

(a) Novelty; Prior Art. A person can get a patent unless: (1) the claimed invention was already patented, described in a printed publication, used publicly, sold, or otherwise made available to the public before the invention's effective filing date; or (2) the claimed invention was already described in an issued patent, or in a published patent application, that names a different inventor and was effectively filed before this invention's filing date. (b) Exceptions. (1) Disclosures made one year or less before the filing date. A disclosure made within a year of the filing date does not count as prior art under (a)(1) if: (A) the inventor (or a joint inventor) made the disclosure, or someone got the information directly or indirectly from the inventor and then disclosed it; or (B) before that disclosure, the inventor or joint inventor — or someone who got the information from them — had already publicly disclosed the same subject matter. (2) Disclosures in applications and patents. A disclosure does not count as prior art under (a)(2) if: (A) the disclosed information came directly or indirectly from the inventor or joint inventor; (B) before the other application was effectively filed, the inventor, joint inventor, or someone who got the information from them, had already publicly disclosed that same subject matter; or (C) by the invention's filing date, the disclosed subject matter and the claimed invention were owned by the same person, or both were obligated to be assigned to the same person. (c) Common Ownership Under Joint Research Agreements. To apply the same-ownership rule in (b)(2)(C), the disclosed subject matter and the claimed invention count as commonly owned if: (1) the disclosed subject matter was developed, and the invention was made, by one or more parties to a joint research agreement that was already in effect by the invention's filing date; (2) the invention was made as a result of work covered by that joint research agreement; and (3) the patent application names the parties to that joint research agreement, or is amended to name them. (d) Patents and Published Applications Effective as Prior Art. To decide whether a patent or patent application counts as prior art to a claimed invention under (a)(2), the law treats that patent or application as "effectively filed" as of: (1) its actual filing date, if (2) does not apply; or (2) if the patent or application can claim an earlier priority date or filing-date benefit under listed sections (119, 365(a), 365(b), 386(a), 386(b), 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c)) based on one or more earlier-filed applications, the filing date of the earliest application that describes the same subject matter.