Patent Criteria

A patentable invention meets rigorous criteria. Those criteria include:

• Being a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or an improvement to one of those; a design; or a plant
• New or novel
• Useful
• Not described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public
• Not obvious by its differences with other older technology

Being not obvious often challenges many inventions while software faces a challenge if it is a process.

Types of Patents

An inventor may seek a patent of certain kinds. Those kinds include:

• Utility patent for process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or an improvement to any
• Design patent for the surface appearance and ornamentation for a thing
• Plant patent for asexually reproduced plants such as rose grafts

Each kind of patent application has its own stringent requirements.

• Set by statute and legal cases
• Must have a written description of the invention and of the manner and process of making and using it