Patents

It was established that it was not sufficient to prove common general knowledge that a particular disclosure was made in an article, in a scientific journal, no matter how wide the circulation of that journal might be, in the absence of any evidence that the disclosure was accepted generally by those who were engaged in the article to which the disclosure related. A piece of particular knowledge as disclosed in a scientific paper did not become common general knowledge merely because it was widely read, and still less because it was widely circulated. Such a piece of knowledge only became general knowledge when it was generally known and accepted without question by the bulk of those who were engaged in the particular article; in other words, when it became part of their common stock of knowledge relating to the article.