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Rh who is obligated to keep the invention confidential qualifies as prior art for purposes of determining the patentability of the invention. 585 U. S. ___ (2018). We conclude that such a sale can qualify as prior art.

The United States Constitution authorizes Congress “[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Art. 1, §8, cl. 8. Under this grant of authority, Congress has crafted a federal patent system that encourages “the creation and disclosure of new, useful, and nonobvious advances in technology and design” by granting inventors “the exclusive right to practice the invention for a period of years.” Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc., 489 U. S. 141, 151 (1989).

To further the goal of “motivating innovation and enlightenment” while also “avoiding monopolies that unnecessarily stifle competition,” Pfaff, 525 U. S., at 63, Congress has imposed several conditions on the “limited opportunity to obtain a property right in an idea,” Bonito Boats, supra, at 149. One such condition is the on-sale bar, which reflects Congress’ “reluctance to allow an inventor to remove existing knowledge from public use” by obtaining a patent covering that knowledge. Pfaff, supra, at 64; see also Pennock v. Dialogue, 2 Pet. 1, 19 (1829) (explaining that “it would materially retard the progress of science and the useful arts” to allow an inventor to “sell his invention publicly” and later “take out a patent” and “exclude the public from any farther use than what should be derived under it”).

Every patent statute since 1836 has included an on-sale bar. Pfaff, supra, at 65. The patent statute in force immediately before the AIA prevented a person from