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Patent School

Assessment of patentability

Is my invention patentable?

In order for an invention to be patentable, a requirement is that the invention is novel, has an inventive step, and is industrially applicable. A patentability assessment is an examination and analysis of whether a specific invention has novelty and inventive step on the basis of already existing patent rights and publications. In addition, it is assessed to what extent the invention can be patented, and how the broadest possible protection is achieved.

It may be advantageous to have a patentability assessment carried out prior to submitting a first patent application, especially in a situation where a company wants to file a patent for a completely new invention for which no patent applications have been submitted before. This will reduce the risk of rejection of a patent application due to the lack of novelty and presence of inventive step.

A more offensive use of the patentability assessment can consist of an assessment of a competitor’s granted patents or patent applications with a goal of limiting or invalidating the competitor’s patent rights.