• Post Grant Oppositions - Effective for patent applications filed on or after March 16, 2013 • Inter Partes Review • Supplemental Examination • Third Party Submissions of Prior Art These changes to U.S. Patent Laws, as well as a basic overview of the U.S. Patent Law system, follow. REQUIREMENTS FOR PATENTABILITY There are several major hurdles an inventor must overcome before patent protection can be obtained. First, the applicant for patent must be able to demonstrate that he or she has developed a new, useful, and not obvious process or product. Since a patent cannot be obtained unless the invention is new, the invention must not have been known or used by others in the United States or patented or described in a publication in the United States or any foreign country before the invention was made by the applicant. In addition, if the invention was patented or described in a publication anywhere in the world or in public use or sale in the United States more than one year prior to the date of filing the application, the patent will be denied. The invention must also be capable of some beneficial use, and cannot be “frivolous, fraudulent, injurious to morals, health or good order.” The invention must also not be obvious, which is the most common reason for Patent Office rejection. It may well be that the invention is something that has never before existed; but, if the Patent Office determines that a mythical person having access to all the available information concerning that particular field of technology would have “known” how to make the invention, then the invention is rejected as being obvious.
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