You have to know that not all inventions are patentable. For an invention to be patentable, it must be new worldwide and not only that, but it must also be sufficiently different (have an inventive step) with respect to the most similar inventions disclosed to date, and have industrial application.
Apart from these substantive requirements there are formal requirements without which the patent will not be granted either. There is the requirement of clarity and the requirement of sufficiency of the description.
An idea is new if there is no disclosure prior to the patent application that exactly discloses the idea to be patented. Novelty is a yes/no requirement since it does not admit any discussion.
If in the pre-registration search a document is detected that shows the invention to be protected, it is better not to invest in the protection of the invention since the patent will surely be denied or declared invalid.
An idea is inventive if an expert in the field of the corresponding technique considers that the invention is not obvious taking into account all the documents that disclose similar ideas, whether analyzed individually or in combination. This requirement is open to argument since the obviousness of an invention is usually debatable.
In order to determine whether an invention has an inventive step, it is necessary to reach the conclusion that the differences between the invention to be patented and the closest existing invention are relevant.
An idea has industrial application when it can be manufactured in an industry or it can be used in an industry.
In practice almost any invention has industrial application. This requirement is intended to prevent theoretical ideas without real-world application from being protected.
Once the patent has been drafted and the text approved by the inventor, the patent is filed with the Patent and Trademark Office. At the same time that it is presented, a presentation receipt is obtained that offers the inventor or owner of the patent provisional rights over his idea, invention or project.
The processing of a patent implies a search carried out by the Patent and Trademark Office of the closest antecedents to the invention that is intended to be patented. Along with the list of previous documents detected, the Patent and Trademark Office delivers a written opinion on the patentability of the invention taking into account the background information detected.
At that time it is possible to restructure the patent to focus protection on those parts of the invention that have not been disclosed by the records and after paying an examination fee, the Patent and Trademark Office once again offers an opinion on the patentability of the patent. invention.
If the invention meets the patentability requirements, it is granted and if it does not, it offers the possibility to the inventor or owner of the patent to argue against it.