Inventive step

The inventive step is a patentability requirement present in most European patent laws, and in particular in the European Patent Convention (EPC). It corresponds more or less to the non-obviousness requirement of the US patent law .

Pursuant to the Article 52(1) in conjunction with Article 56 first sentence of the EPC, European patents shall be granted for inventions which inter alia involve an inventive step, that is, the invention, having regard to the state of the art, must not be obvious to a person skilled in the art.

Landmark decisions

• T 24/81 [1], developping the "problem-solution approach", an objective approach to decide whether or not an invention involves an inventive step.

See also

• Novelty
• Industrial application
• Non-obviousness
• Prior art
• Utility

External links

• Article 52 EPC
• Article 56 EPC
• Guidelines for Examination in the EPO, Part C, Chapter IV Patentability, 9. Inventive step