The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether confidential prior sales of an invention trigger the “on-sale bar,” and qualify as prior art that can invalidate a patent.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Helsinn Healthcare SA argues the Leahy–Smith America Invents Act narrowed the on-sale bar to sales that are “publicly available.” That should not cover a confidential supply agreement with a U.S. distributor for its chemotherapy treatment Aloxi, Helsinn’s Williams & Connolly attorneys argued in their petition for certiorari that was accepted Monday.