Patentability Requirements
By: Gene Quinn, US Patent Attorney & Founder of IPWatchdog.com
There are essentially five substantive requirements that must be satisfied before any invention can be patented. These requirements together are commonly referred to as the patentability requirements. Each of these patentability requirements are discussed briefly below. Due to the fact that this article is a primer the focus is to provide the reader with a broad overview and not to exhaustively treat the many issues that can and do arise under each topic.
As you go through these five requirements for patentability it is important to remember that the first four of these requirements are binary in nature, meaning that the invention either satisfies them or not. Certainly a creative patent lawyer can offer evidence and arguments that can help save the day, but these requirements are either satisfied or not. The last requirement — the adequate description requirement — is one that is completely within the purview of the one who is writing the patent application. In other words, if you have an invention that satisfies the first four requirements you can still find yourself not entitled to a patent because you have not described the invention as the law requires. For this reason many inventors and virtually all companies hire a patent attorney or patent agent to assist them in preparation of a patent application.
If you have additional questions about patent law or the invention process please take a look at the IPWatchdog Patent Page, which are to additional information regarding the invention process, US patent law and patent practice before the United States Patent Office.
