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The activity required of an inventor and his attorney that must have started just prior to the entry into the field of another "inventor" and continue until the invention is reduced to practice, either by building and testing it or filing an enabling patent application. Diligence towards the building and testing of an invention typically includes such activities as ordering parts, fabrication of a prototype or working model, testing of a prototype under the expected conditions of normal use of the invention, etc. Dilegence towards the filing of a patent application typically involves preparation of an invention disclosure, hiring a patent agent or patent attorney, with the patent agent or attorney taking up preparation of the patent application in chronological order. Diligence must be able to be proven and, in an interference proceeding, must be corraborated by a person who is not an inventor. MPEP 2138.06.
- Browse Related Terms: applicant, Completion of Invention, conception, Corroboration, Diligence, First to Invent, Indefiniteness, Inventor, Joint, Joint Invention, Non-Obviousness, Prima facie, Reduction to Practice, Actual, Reduction to Practice, Constructive, unpatentable, valid