Hybritech Inc. v. Monoclonal Antibodies, Inc., 802 F.2d 1367, 231 U.S.P.Q. 81 (Fed. Cir.

1986)

Invention: sandwich assays using monoclonal antibodies

Why Patentable/Non-Patentable: Patentable

Ratio:

Conception is the "formation in the mind of the inventor, of a definite and permanent idea of the
complete and operative invention, as it is hereafter to be applied in practice." Actual reduction to
practice requires that the claimed invention work for its intended purpose, and, as has long been the
law, constructive reduction to practice occurs when a patent application on the claimed invention is
filed.

Hybritech's claim of conception, generally, is evidenced by the sometimes sparsely documented work of
a start-up company whose first small advances evolved into the myriad activities of a mature company
with efforts directed toward developing the claimed invention by first employing the Kohler and Milstein
technology to produce the necessary monoclonal antibodies and using those antibodies in diagnostic
sandwich assay kits. The notebooks were corroborative and clearly showed conception of the claimed
invention before others. There is no doubt that exploiting monoclonal antibodies for use in sandwich
assays was one of the major objectives of Hybritech.