There are five requirements that control if your invention will be able to receive a patent. These five requirements were laid down by Congress and are always changing depending on the latest Supreme Court ruling. The last requirement is different than the other four because it has to due with how the inventor or his attorney write the patent. The first four, naturally, refer to the invention itself.

Patentable subject matter is the first requirement that an invention must pass. The Supreme Court has stated that natural phenomena, laws of nature and abstract ideas are all off limits for patents. This is contrary to the original law in the constitution which stated that anything made by man could be patented. The USPTO has tried to push the Supreme Court by offering things such as business methods as being patentable, but so far the Supreme Court hasn’t budged.

An invention must be partially useful to pass the second requirement. Not only does the invention have to be useful, but it has to be described in enough detail that someone could figure out how it is useful. This seems like a very easy requirement to pass because it only has to be partially useful, but the invention can fail if it isn’t described well or if it doesn’t have a true use. If your logic is flawed or facts are inconsistent with logic, then you will also be denied a patent.

In order to pass the third requirement, an invention must prove to be new in some way. Prior references to your invention play a big part in this requirement because if your invention is identical to any prior art, then it will not receive a patent. These prior references can include previous patents or anything else that mentions your invention. In other words, if a reference such as a newspaper were to get a patent, your invention can’t infringe on it.

In order for your invention to pass the fourth requirement, it must not be obvious. Your invention would be obvious if someone knowledgeable about the field combined a few past references and came to your invention. Therefore, an invention cannot consist of a simple combination of prior inventions; however, if the addition of the inventions isn’t considered already known, then it will be considered not obvious. This is why this requirement can be very tricky. So, in short, if an invention contains only obvious differences from prior art, then it will fail this requirement.

The written description requirement is different from the other tests because it has to do with filling out the patent instead of the invention itself. This final requirement requires that an invention be described so that others will be able to make, use and understand the invention. There are three requirements in order to go about this. First, the enablement requirement says the inventor must describe their invention in a way where other people can make and use the invention. The best mode requirement requires that an inventor describes the way they prefer to carry out their invention’s functions. The written description requirement doesn’t have strict guidelines, and no one is exactly sure what it calls for; therefore, in order to satisfy it, it is easiest to say you just need to describe your invention in as much depth as possible.

Check out Unborn Concepts – Home Of Invention for guides and information on inventing. To start making money inventing come see us.

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