A ‘Patent’ is a set of exclusive rights granted by the national government to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention. As per the Indian Patents Act, 1970, invention means any new or useful art, process method, apparatus or machine.
The three main criteria for patentability are that the invention must be ‘novel’, ‘non-obvious’, and have ‘utility’.
Novelty:
An invention is not patentable if the claimed subject matter was disclosed to the public before the date of filing of the patent application. However, an invention can be novel even if it simply combines two existing ideas.
For Example: A shoe with an air conditioning unit, powered by the motion of walking, combines the existing invention of the shoe and the air conditioner. However, the final product is substantially different and putting the two together is non-obvious.
Non-Obviousness:
To be non-obvious, the invention must not be easily perceived by a person of expertise in that invention’s particular field. One would be unsuccessful in trying to patent a toaster that can toast ten pieces of bread at a time because it takes an existing invention and simply makes its capacity larger.
Usefulness:
To be useful, an invention must work and serve some type of purpose. One would not be able to patent a ‘time machine’ unless one could get it to work. One would also not be able to patent a new drug if it has no effects.
An invention that is too obvious ( Eg: Newton’s laws of gravity),contrary to public order/morality, a mere discovery of any new property or new use of a known substance, a substance containing mere admixture or related to atomic energy is Non-Patentable.
In India and many other countries, the right to the grant of a patent for a given invention is according to the “First-to-File” concept. However, in the US, the same is given according to the “First-to-invent” concept.
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