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.
The first requirement is a patentable subject matter. Originally, everything was patentable; however, the Supreme Court has made limitations on this original rule. Three categories have been ruled off limits to inventions. These three categories are laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas. Like all things in law, these limits have been pushed. The USPTO has tried to make new standards for patentable subject matter, including the addition of business methods; however, the Supreme Court requires that the business method have a computer involved.
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.
The third requirement, the novelty requirement, prompts the inventor to show that their invention is new in some way. An invention will fail this requirement if it is identical to a reference that has been previously made to your invention. In other words, if your patent would infringe on an existing patent, then it doesn’t pass this requirement. If the reference is a newspaper or some other form you have to ask: if the newspaper was issued a patent, would your new patent infringe?
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 last test is different because it has to do with how you write the patent instead of the invention itself. In order to pass this requirement, the invention must be explained so someone could understand, make and use the invention. There are three parts to the explanation. The enablement requirement requires that the invention is described so others can use and make it. Second, the best mode requirement says there must be a preferred way to carry out the invention described in the patent. The third requirement – the written description requirement – has shady guidelines, so describing your invention in great detail is the best to fulfill this requirement.
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