The Impact of On Sale Bar on Method Patents

The podcast episode discusses the on sale bar and its implications for method patents. Pre-AIA, the on sale provision of 102 stated that the invention should not be in public use or on sale in the country more than one year prior to patent application. Post-AIA, the provision expanded to cover claims that were on sale or otherwise available to the public. Case law examples were cited to illustrate how the on sale bar can be triggered even without the sale of physical products. For example, performing a service and providing reports triggered the on sale bar for a method patent. In the software industry, providing output or data to clients can also trigger the on sale bar for method patents that cover the unique way of displaying or collecting the data.