What is patentable?
To be patentable an invention must be a new, nonobvious, and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, composition of matter, or an improvement to any of the foregoing. In addition to utility patents for any of the foregoing categories of inventions, patent protection is also available for the ornamental design of an article of manufacture and to asexually reproduced plant varieties.
For the standard type of patent, called a utility patent, an invention must be either an apparatus, a composition of matter, a process, or an article of manufacture (i.e. an artificial, man-made thing rather than an unprocessed, natural object or material). An improved version of previous technology may be patentable, as well as a new use for an existing technology. To be patentable, the invention or discovery must possess: Utility: The patent statute specifies that an invention must be useful; i.e., it has a real-world application. Novelty: The patent must be new, i.e., the exact same thing must not have existed or been done before. Non-Obviousness: Even if novel, the invention must also be different enough from past technology that the average worker in the field would not have come up with the new invention from what was already known. If the invention does not meet this test, it may be rejected as obvious. Remember that the average worker in many scientific fields may be a Ph.D. re
For the standard type of patent, called a utility patent, an invention must be either an apparatus, a composition of matter, a process, or an article of manufacture (i.e. an artificial, man-made thing rather than an unprocessed, natural object or material). An improved version of previous technology may be patentable, as well as a new use for an existing technology.
For an invention to have patentable subject matter, it must fall under one for the following categories: • a composition of matter, e.g., a vector, hybridoma, compound • a process, e.g., a method of production, a method for diagnosis or a method of treatment • an improvement, e.g., an improved method or composition. The laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable. In addition, a patentable invention must be new, useful and non-obvious. Novelty and utility may be determined by a survey of the scientific and/or patent literature. The obviousness or non-obviousness of an invention is determined by the application of a three part inquiry that looks at the scope and content of the prior art, the difference between the prior art and the invention at issue; and the level of ordinary skill in the art. The scope of a patentable invention is described by claims and is determined through a process of examination that takes place in the relevant patent office.
