How unique does a business idea/inventions have to be in order to gain this level of protection?
This is a hard question, as it is very subjective. What is new to one person is obvious and therefore not allowable to someone else. Only a small number of inventions are totally new, and most improve in some way an existing idea. It may be cheaper, or more effective, or simply a different way of doing something. It’s back to that person skilled in the art in the last question, who is an (imaginary !) engineer who knows everything in the specific trade, but has no inventive ability, is supposed to judge things. If something is new in that trade then that can be allowed. Hence something used in hairdressing that could be used in say shoemaking could be patented for that specific purpose. Of course, everyone can argue about what that engineer would agree to. In cases where someone infringes a granted patent, it is normal to try to find any kind of “prior art” showing that the invention wasn’t really new in the first place as a defence. 3) What are the first steps for businesses looking t
