Anticipation

“Anticipated” is the word an examiner uses when she is telling you, politely, that somebody got there first.

In simple words

A finding that a single earlier disclosure already contained everything in a claim, so the claim is not new.

Think of it as

Somebody already published your claim, whether or not they realised it.

Why it matters

Indian law also defines specific situations that do not count as anticipation - for example disclosure obtained from the applicant without consent, communication to the Government, display at a gazette-notified exhibition, a paper read before a learned society, and public working for the purpose of reasonable trial. Those exceptions are narrow and conditional.

A simple example

A prior document that describes each element of your claim, arranged as your claim requires, anticipates it. A document that describes most of them, leaving the rest to be supplied from elsewhere, does not - that becomes an obviousness argument.

Common mistake

Assuming India has a general twelve-month grace period like some other countries. It does not. Only the specific situations in sections 29 to 32 are excluded, and each has conditions.

Where it comes from

Patents Act 1970 - sections 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34