35 U.S.C. 185   Patent barred for filing without license. (Sept. 16, 2012)

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law any person, and his successors, assigns, or legal representatives, shall not receive a United States patent for an invention if that person, or his successors, assigns, or legal representatives shall, without procuring the license prescribed in section 184, have made, or consented to or assisted another’s making, application in a foreign country for a patent or for the registration of a utility model, industrial design, or model in respect of the invention. A United States patent issued to such person, his successors, assigns, or legal representatives shall be invalid, unless the failure to procure such license was through error, and the patent does not disclose subject matter within the scope of section 181.

(Amended Aug. 23, 1988, Public Law 100-418, sec. 9101(b)(2), 102 Stat. 1568; Nov. 2, 2002, Public Law 107-273, sec. 13206, 116 Stat. 1904; amended Sept. 16, 2011, Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, Public Law 112-29, secs. 20(c), 20(j), 125 Stat. 284, effective Sept. 16, 2012.)

[*End Editor's Note: 35 U.S.C. 185 (Sept. 16, 2012)]