The Patent Application

The patent may be viewed as an agreement between the inventor or applicant on the one hand and the government on the other. The patentee receives a time-limited exclusivity for the invention, in exchange for letting the patent be published to form part of the general body of knowledge upon which continued technological advancements can be made.

Patent protection can only be obtained by applying at a patent office. All patents are national, even if the application process in some cases can be co-ordinated across several countries.

Application criteria

In order to obtain patent protection for an invention, three basic conditions must be fulfilled:

• It must be novel.
• It must involve a so-called inventive step.
• It must be industrially applicable.

Novelty

Novelty of an invention means that it in no way has been disclosed anywhere in the world before the filing date of the patent application. Hence, the invention must not have been described in any brochure, magazine, oral presentation or the like, and must not have been displayed, used or marketed in such a way so that it has become publicly known or such that any  person could have taken part thereof. Therefore, it is very important that the inventor does not destroy the novelty by disclosing the invention to the public before filing a patent application.