What is Reduction to Practice
Interference proceedings have been replaced by Derivation proceedings due to the America Invents Act (AIA). Do not take this blog post or any post on this website as legal advice. The concept of reduction to practice (RTP) is important in patent prosecution for patents containing no claims filed on or after March 16, 2013 (AIA). Why this particular date? Because this is the date when our patent system shifted from "First-to-invent" to "First-inventor-to-file". The concept of RTP was used to help determine who the true inventor of a technology was in interference proceedings. Interference proceedings are currently replaced by derivation proceedings (in patents with claims on or after March 16, 2013).
RTP is the idea that the inventor actually did more work than just came up with a concept. Imagine if an inventor just came up with ideas after another but did not do anything about it. How would this compare to an inventor that not only came up with the idea, but actually put in the work to reduce the invention to practice by building some kind of a prototype?
The USPTO rewards those with diligence. Diligence is defined as the the work put into a conception in order to turn it into something of value. More one this later.
There are 2 types of reduction to practices. The first is "actual reduction to practice", which is the showing that the invention works according to its intended purpose. The second is "constructive reduction to practice", which is when the filing of the patent application takes place. The idea of RTP is especially important in interference proceedings when the true inventor needs to be determined. In an interference proceeding, the following language will often be used:
A is awarded priority in an interference, or...
A antedates B as a reference in the context of a declaration or affidavit filed under 37 CFR 1.131
This is just an introduction to the idea of reduction to practice. Remember, RTP is especially important if you have filed a patent with NO claims anytime on or after the enactment of the AIA which is March 16, 2013.