On January 22, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision (available here) in Helsinn Healthcare v. Teva Pharmaceuticals. Under United States law, a person cannot receive a patent on an invention that was “in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.” 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1). (An exception exists for certain disclosures made one year or less before the effective filing date of a claimed invention, which renders such disclosures outside the realm of prior art. See 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)(1).)
At issue in Helsinn was whether the sale of an invention to a third party who is contractually obligated to keep the invention confidential places the invention “on sale” within the meaning of § 102(a). The Court found that such a confidential sale renders the invention “on sale” under § 102(a).