Inventive step

To obtain a patent for an invention, it must be substantially different from the prior art.

Inventive step means that the invention must be substantially different from anything previously known. The solution must not be obvious to those with a knowledge of the technical field of the invention. This means that new ways of combining known methods or objects are not necessarily patentable.

Read more about patentability requirements and how they are assessed in our guidelines:

Patentability conditions