2.4.5.2.2 Date for Construing Citation

Date Published

In interpreting an alleged anticipation, the question to be considered is how the prior document would strike an instructed reader and not what was in the mind of the author (Bloch and Ilford Ld's Patent (1936) 53 RPC 92 at page 98, lines 14 to 16). The earlier document must moreover be construed as by a notional instructed reader at its date of publication, to the exclusion of information subsequently discovered.

See also:

  • Ore Concentration Company (1905) Ld v Sulphide Corporation Ld (1914) 31 RPC 206 at page 224; and
  • The General Tire & Rubber Co v The Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company Ltd & Others [1972] RPC 457 at page 485.