Also known as: statutory bars · statute bar
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A patent-law provision that denies protection to an inventor who delays filing beyond one year after certain public disclosures. The bar is triggered by events such as publication, sale, offer for sale, or public use of the invention.
A patent-law provision that denies protection to an inventor who delays filing beyond one year after certain public disclosures. The bar is triggered by events such as publication, sale, offer for sale, or public use of the invention.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A statutory prohibition on registering trademarks that are disparaging or derogatory. Such a bar constitutes an unconstitutional viewpoint-based restriction on private speech and fails strict scrutiny.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A statutory prohibition on registering trademarks that are disparaging or derogatory. Such a bar constitutes an unconstitutional viewpoint-based restriction on private speech and fails strict scrutiny.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Steven Silva invents a new sensor and sells working prototypes to customers in January 2022. He files a patent application in March 2024. The examiner cites the earlier sales as triggering a statutory bar. The application is rejected because more than one year elapsed between the sales and the filing date.
Publication, sale, offer for sale, or public use of the invention more than one year before the filing date triggers the bar and results in loss of the right to patent. The one-year period runs from the date of the triggering event regardless of when the invention was actually made.
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A statutory bar is keyed to the filing date and causes loss of right even if the inventor was the first to invent. Lack of novelty is keyed to the date of invention and prevents patentability when the invention was already known or used by others before that date.
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A provisional application can secure an earlier effective filing date that avoids the bar, provided the nonprovisional application is filed within one year and claims the benefit of the provisional. The bar is measured from the effective filing date of the nonprovisional.
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Spectrum Financial files a trademark application for a fleet-management app name containing a term derogatory toward older drivers. The examiner rejects the application under the statutory bar. Spectrum challenges the rejection in federal court, arguing the bar suppresses private commercial speech based on viewpoint. The court holds the bar unconstitutional and orders the application to proceed.
Trademarks are private speech. A bar that denies registration solely because the mark expresses a disfavored viewpoint is a content-based restriction that cannot survive strict scrutiny. The government may not use the registration system to suppress private expression on that basis.
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