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What is a patent interference?
Sometimes different inventors file two or more applications claiming essentially the same invention. The patent, however, can be granted to only one of them. In these cases, the PTO instigates a proceeding known as an "interference" to determine who is the actual first inventor and therefore entitled to the patent. Interference proceedings also can be instituted between a pending application and a patent already issued.
In the United States, only the inventor who first made the invention is entitled to obtain a patent. In a patent interference, each party must submit evidence to prove when he or she made the invention. If an inventor cannot submit such evidence, the date of invention is considered to be the date on which the application was filed. A panel of administrative patent judges reviews all the evidence and then decides which party was the first to invent. After a decision by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, the losing party may appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or file a civil action against the winning party in the appropriate U.S. district court.
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