novelty’?
▪ Absolute novelty: all material made available to the public
anywhere in the world forms part of the state of the art (e.g. UK and
EPC)
▪ Local novelty: any public use or publication of the invention before
the priority date will not destroy novelty unless the use occurs in the
country or the publication is available in the country (e.g. New
Zealand)
▪ Relative novelty: a publication available in any country will destroy
novelty but use of the invention outside the country in which
protection is sought does not (e.g. Australia before 2000, USA)
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Always check with your IP consultant.
