Editing Patentability (section)

== Requirements ==
The patent laws usually require that, for an invention to be patentable, it must be:
* [[Patentable subject matter]], i.e., a kind of subject-matter eligible for patent protection (also called "statutory patentable subject-matter")
* [[novelty (patent)|Novel]] (i.e. at least some aspect of it must be new)
* [[Inventive step and non-obviousness|Non-obvious]] (in [[United States patent law]]) or involve an [[Inventive step and non-obviousness|inventive step]] (in [[European patent law]] and under the [[Patent Cooperation Treaty]])
* [[utility (patent)|Useful]] (in U.S. patent law) or be susceptible of [[industrial applicability|industrial application]] (in European patent law<ref>{{EPC Article|57}}</ref>)

Usually the term "''patentability''" only refers to the four aforementioned "substantive" conditions, and does not refer to formal conditions such as the "[[sufficiency of disclosure]]", the "[[unity of invention]]" or the "[[sufficiency of disclosure|best mode requirement]]".

Judging patentability is one aspect of the official [[patent application|examination]] of a [[patent application]] performed by a [[patent examiner]] and may be tested in post-grant patent litigation.

Prior to [[filing date|filing]] a patent application, [[inventor]]s sometimes obtain a [[patentability opinion]] from a [[patent attorney|patent agent]] or [[patent attorney]] regarding whether an invention satisfies the substantive conditions of patentability.