The rationale for the inventive step, also known as non-obviousness, lies in ensuring that patents are granted only for truly innovative and non-trivial inventions. This requirement is a fundamental aspect of patent law and serves several important purposes:
Encouraging genuine innovation: The inventive step requirement aims to encourage inventors to come up with solutions that are not obvious to someone skilled in the relevant field. By rewarding only those inventions that represent a significant leap forward, the patent system promotes genuine innovation.
Balancing incentives and social cost: Patents confer exclusive rights to inventors for a limited time, providing them with an incentive to invest time and resources in developing new and valuable technologies. However, this exclusive right comes at a social cost—temporarily limiting competition. The inventive step requirement helps strike a balance between providing inventors with incentives to innovate and preventing the grant of patents for trivial or obvious developments.
Preventing monopolies on incremental improvements: The inventive step criterion prevents the issuance of patents for minor or incremental improvements that may not represent a significant advance over existing knowledge. This helps prevent the creation of a monopoly on technologies that do not contribute substantially to scientific or technological progress.
Encouraging fundamental research: By requiring inventors to demonstrate a non-obvious leap in their innovations, the inventive step criterion encourages inventors to engage in fundamental research rather than focusing solely on incremental improvements. This promotes the development of breakthrough technologies that have a more profound impact on society.
Minimising economically insignificant patents: The inventive step requirement serves to filter out inventions that lack economic significance or practical utility. This helps reduce the number of patents that are difficult and expensive to search, license, and enforce, streamlining the patent system.
In summary, the inventive step requirement is designed to ensure that patents are granted only for inventions that represent a significant advancement in knowledge and technology. It helps maintain a balance between incentivising innovation and preventing the negative consequences of overly broad or trivial patents on competition and societal progress.
You can learn more about this topic with our Intellectual Property notes.
