July 2010

Looking Ahead

On July 7, 2010, in In re Giacomini, No. 09-1400 (Fed. Cir. July 7, 2010), the Federal Circuit held that the effective reference date of a U.S. patent claiming priority on a provisional application disclosing the same invention is the filing date of the provisional.  The Giacomini appellants unsuccessfully argued that, because under In re Hilmer, 359 F.2d 859 (C.C.P.A. 1966), the patent-defeating date of a U.S. patent claiming priority under the Paris Convention is not dated back to the priority date, the same result should apply for priority based upon a provisional application.  Read the full summary in next month’s edition of Last Month at the Federal Circuit.