What are the requirements for patent protection?
To qualify for patent protection, an invention must be new, useful and non-obvious. ? New or “Novel”: An invention must not be in the public domain before the patent applicant invented the invention. The U.S. Patent Office will not grant a patent on an invention that was publicly used or “on sale” – by anyone, including the inventor — more than one year before the inventor filed a patent application. Identical or similar inventions that others publicly disclose anywhere in the world before an inventor files her patent application – known as “prior art” – may prevent the inventor from obtaining patent protection because her invention would not be considered “novel.” ? Useful: An invention must be useful for some purpose, and cannot be inoperative. Utility is not presumed, but must be disclosed as part of the patent application. Note that a patent need not have commercial potential to be valid. Moreover, a patent gives its owner the right to exclude others from “making, using or selling
