What does it mean if a claim is "anticipated"?

When a claim is described as "anticipated," it means that the prior art fully discloses the entire invention as claimed. Anticipation is a legal standard in patent law that occurs when a single prior art reference contains all the elements of the claimed invention, arranged in the same way as in the claim. This can include both the specific elements and the manner in which they interact to produce the claimed invention's function and results.

To establish anticipation, it is essential that each element of the claim is found in the same form in the prior art, which means that the prior art must provide a complete description of the invention. This concept is critical in determining whether a patent can be granted, as it ensures that no one can claim ownership over an invention that has already been disclosed by another source.

With respect to the other answer choices, while a claim being published or irrelevant to existing patents could be important in other contexts, they do not directly relate to the concept of anticipation. Likewise, a claim being overly broad and needing to be narrowed pertains to the issue of patentability under different grounds, such as clarity, rather than anticipation itself. Thus, understanding anticipation revolves around the complete disclosure of the claimed invention in the prior art.