Patents

A patent would be invalid for added matter if the matter disclosed in the specification of the patent extended beyond that disclosed in the application for the patent as filed. A patent might only be amended within the limits of what a skilled person would derive directly and unambiguously, using common general knowledge and seen objectively and relative to the date of filing from the whole of the documents as filed. It was settled law that there were two requirements for a claim to be anticipated by a prior document: disclosure and enablement. The disclosure to be derived from the public availability of an article depended on the extent to which the public had unrestricted access to it.