The U.S. Supreme Court may soon resolve an issue that has sparked much debate since the enactment of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act — namely, whether under the AIA, an inventor’s sale of an invention to a third party that is obligated to keep the invention confidential qualifies as prior art for purposes of determining patentability. On Dec. 4, 2018, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in Helsinn Healthcare SA v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. on that very issue.

Originally published in Law360 - November 30, 2018.