What is prior art?

Prior art is a term used in patent law to refer to existing knowledge and information that was available to the public before a patent application was filed. This can include books, articles, other published material, and even products already on the market. In North Carolina and in other states, these records are checked by the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) to make sure that a patent application is for something totally new and not an invention that already exists. In other words, the prior art helps determine if an invention is actually novel and not just an obvious modification of something already known about. In some cases, a patent application can be denied if the prior art shows that the invention was already available to the public or was already patented by someone else.

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What is prior art?

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