35 U.S.C. § 103 : US Code - Section 103: Conditions for patentability; non-obvious subject matter

Search 35 U.S.C. § 103 : US Code - Section 103: Conditions for patentability; non-obvious subject matter

(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not
identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of
this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to
be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a
whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to
a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject
matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner
in which the invention was made.
(b)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (a), and upon timely election
by the applicant for patent to proceed under this subsection, a
biotechnological process using or resulting in a composition of
matter that is novel under section 102 and nonobvious under
subsection (a) of this section shall be considered nonobvious if -
(A) claims to the process and the composition of matter are
contained in either the same application for patent or in
separate applications having the same effective filing date; and
(B) the composition of matter, and the process at the time it
was invented, were owned by the same person or subject to an
obligation of assignment to the same person.
(2) A patent issued on a process under paragraph (1) -
(A) shall also contain the claims to the composition of matter
used in or made by that process, or
(B) shall, if such composition of matter is claimed in another
patent, be set to expire on the same date as such other patent,
notwithstanding section 154.
(3) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term "biotechnological
process" means -
(A) a process of genetically altering or otherwise inducing a
single- or multi-celled organism to -
(i) express an exogenous nucleotide sequence,
(ii) inhibit, eliminate, augment, or alter expression of an
endogenous nucleotide sequence, or
(iii) express a specific physiological characteristic not
naturally associated with said organism;
(B) cell fusion procedures yielding a cell line that expresses
a specific protein, such as a monoclonal antibody; and
(C) a method of using a product produced by a process defined
by subparagraph (A) or (B), or a combination of subparagraphs (A)
and (B).
(c)(1) Subject matter developed by another person, which
qualifies as prior art only under one or more of subsections (e),
(f), and (g) of section 102 of this title, shall not preclude
patentability under this section where the subject matter and the
claimed invention were, at the time the claimed invention was made,
owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment
to the same person.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, subject matter developed by
another person and a claimed invention shall be deemed to have been
owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment
to the same person if -
(A) the claimed invention was made by or on behalf of parties
to a joint research agreement that was in effect on or before the
date the claimed invention was made;
(B) the claimed invention was made as a result of activities
undertaken within the scope of the joint research agreement; and
(C) the application for patent for the claimed invention
discloses or is amended to disclose the names of the parties to
the joint research agreement.
(3) For purposes of paragraph (2), the term "joint research
agreement" means a written contract, grant, or cooperative
agreement entered into by two or more persons or entities for the
performance of experimental, developmental, or research work in the
field of the claimed invention.