Definition[]
U.S. patent law[]
Conception is
| “ | the formation in the mind of the inventor[] of a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention, as it is thereafter to be applied in practice."[1] | ” |
Overview[]
A conception must encompass all limitations of the claimed invention,[2] and "is complete only when the idea is so clearly defined in the inventor's mind that only ordinary skill would be necessary to reduce the invention to practice, without extensive research or experimentation."[3]
Conception does not occur until the inventive idea is "crystallized in all of its essential attributes and becomes so clearly defined in the mind of the inventor as to be capable of being converted to reality and reduced to practice by the inventor or by one skilled in the art."[4] "[A]n accidental and unappreciated duplication of an invention does not defeat the patent right of one who, though later in time, was the first to recognize that which constitutes the inventive subject matter."[5]
Conception is shown through the presentation of corroborated evidence that the inventor formed in his mind "a definite and permanent idea of the complete and operative invention, as it is thereafter applied in practice."[6]