Travis W. Bliss, Ph.D., Esq. recently authored an article for The Legal Intelligencer titled “Secret Sales and Patentability Problems: Even a secret sale can create an on-sale bar to patentability.”

The article addresses a question that often surprises inventors and business owners: Can a sale that does not actually expose the to-be-patented invention to the public destroy its novelty? The answer is yes. Under certain circumstances, even a nonpublic, secret sale can trigger the on-sale bar and render an invention unpatentable.

Dr. Bliss highlights recent guidance from the District of Delaware and emphasizes the importance of evaluating any pre-filing sales or testing and consulting patent counsel early to preserve patent rights.

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