Arrow declaration

noun1

1. •
   (UK) A declaration or order sought, for reasons of legal certainty, from a court that a product or process to be launched was old (i.e., not novel) or obvious in patent law terms at a particular date, so that the product (or process) cannot be affected by (i.e., cannot infringe) any later granted patent, which would itself necessarily also either lack novelty or inventive step.