Patent law is the general name of legal norms that confirm the exclusive right of inventors (or their heirs) to their inventions, stipulate the acquisition and extinction of patent rights, the implementation and protection of patent rights, and the rights and obligations of other patentees.
Different countries have different patent laws, and China and most countries require that the patented invention must be novel, advanced and industrial.
Novelty means that on the date of filing a patent application or the priority date, the invention is unprecedented in the prior art, that is, it is not known or public. Any invention disclosed by means of words, tapes, records, photography, oral or public use, etc. , lost its freshness. Some countries adopt world novelty, some countries adopt domestic novelty, some countries know that the world scope is the standard, and the public takes the domestic scope as the standard. There are exceptions to losing freshness. For example, inventions that were first made public at some internationally renowned exhibitions do not necessarily lose their novelty. The law allows inventors to file patent applications within a period of time after the exhibition.
Advanced, also known as creativity, means that when applying for a patent, the invention is more advanced than the existing technology, and its degree is not obvious to ordinary professionals in this technical field. Although it is improved compared with the existing technology, if it belongs to the category obvious to ordinary technicians in this technical field, the patent right cannot be granted.
Practicality means that inventions can be made and used in industry and can produce meaningful results. For example, any invention that claims to make a perpetual motion machine cannot be patented in most countries because it is not practical.
The above-mentioned prior art, in China's patent law, refers to the technology known to the public at home and abroad before the filing date.