What is novelty and non-obviousness in relation to a patent?
Novelty refers to one of the tests for patentability. In order to be patentable, an invention must be new essentially. What they means is so long as the identical thing hasn’t been done before, it’s new. The non-obviousness test is a hard one to pass. And that test requires the creation of a hypothetical person of ordinary skill in the field, whatever it is, they’re presumed to know every patent that is ever issued in this field and read popular whatever magazine. If they can solve the problem that the inventor has identified the same way the inventor did, in ignorance of the inventor’s solution, then it’s an ordinary design choice that anybody of ordinary skill in the art would make it not patentable. If they can’t solve it the way the inventor did, then it’s a non-obvious improvement, and patentable.
