What does 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) Pre-AIA say about public use or sale?

The provision under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) Pre-AIA conveys that an invention cannot have been in public use or on sale for more than one year before the filing date of the patent application. This section establishes critical criteria for patentability, emphasizing that if an invention is publicly known or commercially exploited prior to the filing, it may be disqualified from being patented due to the potential loss of novelty.

In the context of option A, the focus is on the timing of the public disclosure or sale relative to the patent application filing. If the invention has been publicly available or has been offered for sale before the inventor files for a patent, it compromises the originality necessary for patent grant as dictated by this statute.

Other choices fail to encompass the essential understanding of § 102(b). For example, indicating that the invention must be innovative or must have been marketed for an extended time overlooks the specific timing constraints designed to protect the novelty of the invention against prior use or sale. Moreover, stating that the invention cannot be patented internationally is not relevant to the conditions of § 102(b), which pertains strictly to domestic availability and the one-year grace period from public disclosure or sale relative to the filing date. Thus, option A accurately captures