7.5.1 Establishing the publication date 

A publication date is established in two separate stages. It must be assessed first whether a given date is correct and then whether the content in question was indeed made available to the public on that date.

The nature of the internet can make it difficult to establish the actual date on which information was made available to the public: for instance, not all web pages mention when they were published. Also, websites are easily updated but usually do not provide any archive of previously displayed material or display records enabling the public – including examiners – to establish precisely what was published and when.

Neither restricting access to a limited circle of people (e.g. by password protection) nor requiring payment for access (analogous to purchasing a book or subscribing to a journal) prevent a web page from forming part of the state of the art. It is sufficient if the web page is in principle available without any duty to treat it as confidential.

Finally, it is theoretically possible to manipulate the date and content of an internet disclosure (as it is with traditional documents). However, in view of the sheer size and redundancy of the content available on the internet, it is considered very unlikely that an internet disclosure discovered by an examiner has been manipulated. Its date can therefore be accepted as correct unless there is specific evidence to the contrary.