What makes an invention Patentable?
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