# Prior art

All publicly available information that existed before a patent's priority date that is relevant to the novelty and non-obviousness of the claimed invention. Prior art includes earlier patents, published patent applications, journal articles, product manuals, conference presentations, and anything that was publicly known or in use. Searching prior art before filing is one of the most valuable steps an inventor can take.

**Full entry:** https://patentbrief.org/glossary/prior-art

**All patent terms:** https://patentbrief.org/glossary

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_Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. A plain-English glossary of US patent terms._