Inequitable Conduct and the Duty of Candor: Patent Laws Atomic Bomb

50 questions on inequitable conduct and the duty of candor, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Can inventors face personal consequences for inequitable conduct?
• Can inventorship errors constitute inequitable conduct?
• Can litigation misconduct prove intent to deceive the Patent Office years earlier?
• Does a patent applicant have a duty to search for prior art?
• Does disclosing a reference admit that it is material or that it is prior art?
• How do courts apply the but-for materiality test?
• How does a supplemental examination proceeding work?
• How does infectious unenforceability threaten a modern patent portfolio?
• How does supplemental examination compare to reissue and reexamination?
• How do privilege issues arise in inequitable conduct disputes?
• How do you cure a false statement made to the Patent Office?
• How is intent to deceive proven circumstantially in litigation?
• How long does the duty of candor last, and how is it discharged?
• How should partial translations of foreign references be handled?
• Is failing to cite a single prior art reference enough to kill a patent?
• Is inequitable conduct decided by a judge or a jury?
• Is knowing about a reference and failing to disclose it enough to prove intent?
• What are prophetic examples, and how do they create candor risk?
• What are the IDS filing deadlines and their consequences?
• What are the limits on supplemental examination as a cure?
• What can you do if material art surfaces after the issue fee is paid?
• What cases show the egregious misconduct exception in action?
• What categories of information can be material to patentability?
• What collateral consequences follow an inequitable conduct finding?
• What did Belcher Pharmaceuticals decide about contradictory agency filings?
• What does a candor compliance program look like?
• What does specific intent to deceive require?
• What does the Section 1.97(e) certification require?
• What information is "material" under Rule 56?
• What is an Information Disclosure Statement?
• What is "burying" a reference in an IDS?
• What is inequitable conduct in patent law?
• What is infectious unenforceability?
• What is supplemental examination under Section 257?
• What is the bottom-line message about candor for patent owners?
• What is the complete modern test for inequitable conduct?
• What is the difference between inequitable conduct and invalidity?
• What is the egregious misconduct exception to but-for materiality?
• What is the single best structural defense against infectious unenforceability?
• What must a challenger prove to establish inequitable conduct after Therasense?
• What must an inequitable conduct allegation plead to survive a motion to dismiss?
• What was the sliding scale, and why did Therasense abolish it?
• What were the facts of Therasense v. Becton, Dickinson?
• Where did the inequitable conduct doctrine come from?
• Who is bound by the duty of candor?
• Why did the Federal Circuit call inequitable conduct an "absolute plague"?
• Why does it matter whether the examiner initialed a reference as considered?
• Why does the law impose a duty of candor on patent applicants?
• Why is failing to disclose foreign office actions so dangerous?
• Why should you document good-faith judgment calls during prosecution?