to determine whether an invention is patentable?
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right by the government, which allows the patent holder to exclude others from working the invention. Patents are issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and by similar government offices in foreign countries. In legal language, what is granted is “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. Note that a right is not granted to make, use, sell, offer to sell, or import the invention–only the right to exclude others from doing so. Sometimes the patent holder must license other patents in order to be able practice their invention. An invention is considered by the USPTO to be patentable if it is new (it provides the public with something it did not previously possess); useful (it must have the effect claimed, and that effect must be useful to society, at least in principle); and non-obvious (it must
