Prior Art

The corpus of information that was publicly available before a patent application has been filed (i.e. before its filing date or priority date as applicable).  This information includes any information that has been made publicly available in any way, and includes oral disclosures and the availability, or demonstrations, of  existing products, as well as written documents such as published articles or the specifications of other patent applications. 

It should be noted that the prior art for a patent application includes any public disclosures that have been made by the inventor(s) themselves, although some jurisdictions do provide a grace period for filing a patent application following such disclosures (although this is not the case in the UK or Europe). 

In examining a patent application, an examiner will carry out a search to identify prior art that is relevant to assessing whether a patent should be granted for that application.  In particular, the examiner will try to identify any prior art disclosures that either disclose the invention in its entirety, or from which the invention would have been obvious when combined with other prior art disclosures. 

In order for a disclosure to be relevant as prior art, it must be sufficiently detailed to enable the skilled person to reproduce the disclosed material.