reverse infringement

noun

A situation where a prior disclosure (such as prior art) anticipates a claimed invention, effectively rendering the prior art an infringement of the patent if the patent were valid.

Meanings

nounreverse infringement (countable and uncountable, plural reverse infringements)

plural reverse infringements

  1. countableuncountableintellectual propertyA situation where a prior disclosure (such as prior art) anticipates a claimed invention, effectively rendering the prior art an infringement of the patent if the patent were valid.

    The failure to comply with the European procurement law would most likely lead to fines and proceedings to reverse infringements.

    2018, Alessandro Arduino, Xue Gong (editors), Securing the Belt and Road Initiative, Risk Assessment, Private Security and Special Insurances Along the New Wave of Chinese Outbound Investments, page 285
    2 more examples

    His Honour held that the test of anticipation or want of novelty was that of reverse infringement and the guidelines in Hill v. Evans.

    1990, Adelaide Law Review Association (contributor), An Annual Survey of Australian Law, page 306

    An effective way of securing the right to work is to test the invention which is the subject of a patent application by comparing the invention and the prior art and asking whether the invention would 'infringe' the prior art - a test of reverse infringement.

    1999, Catherine Colston, Principles of Intellectual Property Law, page 86
Cite this entry
APA

reverse infringement. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reverse%20infringement

MLA

“reverse infringement.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reverse%20infringement. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reverse infringement,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reverse%20infringement.

Source: reverse infringement on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.