anticipation

Act of doing or taking a thing before its proper time. To do, take up, or deal with, before another; to preclude or prevent by prior action; to be before in doing.

In conveyancing, the act of assigning, charging, or otherwise dealing with income before it becomes due.

In patent law, an invention is anticipated by prior art when the invention is not new or lacks novelty over that art. Topliff v. Topliff, 145 U.S. 156, 12 S.Ct. 825, 36 L.Ed. 658.

Defense of "anticipation" in suit for patent infringement is made out when, except for insubstantial differences, the prior patent contains all of the same elements operating in the same fashion to perform an identical function. Ropat Corp. v. West Bend Co., D.C. 111., 382 F.Supp. 1030, 1036.

Unless all of same elements are found in exactly same situation and are united in same way to perform identical function in a single prior art reference, there is no "anticipation" which will invalidate that patent. Ceramic Tilers Supply, Inc. v. Tile Council of America, Inc., C.A.Cal., 378 F.2d 283, 284.

In law of negligence, "anticipation" is not confined to expectation. It means probability, not possibility, as applied to duty to anticipate consequences of conduct attacked as negligent. Empire Dist. Electric Co. v. Harris, C.C.A.Mo., 82 F.2d 48, 52