The Patent Law

In 1957, an inventor dreamed up and constructed a certain new kind of computer. He kept his invention a secret. Two years later, another inventor whoconceived the same machine filed a patent application. The first inventor, learning of the patent application, filed for his own patent in 1963. Who is entitledto the patent, assuming that the invention was truly novel and not obvious? Why? HINT: You will need to briefly research what US Patent law was back in the 1950s and 60s for this question.

Now- assume the computer was invented in 2014 and a second inventor came up with the same idea in 2016- the second inventor filed for a patent in 2017 – would the result be the same? Why or why not?