Patentability is the set of criteria that an invention must meet to obtain patent protection. For an invention to be patentable, it must meet several essential conditions:
- Novelty: The invention must be new, i.e., it must not have been disclosed to the public before the filing date of the patent application. Any prior disclosure, whether in the form of publication, an existing patent, or public presentation, renders the invention unpatentable.
- Inventive step: The invention must involve an inventive step, i.e., it must not be obvious to a person skilled in the relevant technical field.
- Industrial application: The invention must be capable of being manufactured or used in at least one industrial field. This excludes purely theoretical or speculative inventions.
- Legality: The invention must comply with the law and public order. Inventions contrary to morality, such as human cloning processes, are excluded from patentability.
Specific exclusions: Certain categories are explicitly unpatentable, such as scientific discoveries, medical methods, mathematical theories, or aesthetic creations.
If an invention meets these criteria, it can be protected by a patent, giving the inventor a temporary monopoly on the exploitation of the invention.