Legal Definitions - abandoned, suppressed, or concealed

ABANDONED, SUPPRESSED, OR CONCEALED

Abandoned, suppressed, or concealed refers to patents that have intentionally or accidentally been hidden from public notice, not reduced to practice, or not patented. If an inventor abandons the field to others or is held to have lost the right to patent by suppressing or concealing the invention, another person's earlier invention will not be considered prior art. However, if the suppression or concealment occurred after the art became known to the public, then it still qualifies as prior art.

Example 1: An inventor creates a new type of engine but decides not to patent it and instead keeps it a secret. This invention is considered abandoned, suppressed, or concealed.

Example 2: A company develops a new type of software but decides not to release it to the public and instead keeps it hidden. This invention is considered abandoned, suppressed, or concealed.

These examples illustrate how an invention can be considered abandoned, suppressed, or concealed if it is intentionally or accidentally hidden from public notice. In both examples, the inventions were not patented and were kept secret, making them ineligible for patent protection.