Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 81

Starting a development project, the engineer or scientist has at hand the full wealth of known prior technology related to the goals of the project. This is what is defined as the “prior art.” The developer knows, however, that the amassed knowledge of the prior art cannot solve the current problem; the prior art must be advanced to reach the current goals of this new development project. Thus‚ the inventor toils until an advance over the prior art allows the new goal to be reached. At project’s end, the inventor’s advanced structure, and its function or method are measured against the state of the prior art to establish the novelty of the advance, and to ensure that such an advance would not be obvious, given the teachings of the prior art. When the advance satisfies these criteria, patentable invention is made out, and a meaningful patent can be obtained to provide exclusive rights to the owner of the invention, as long as the other criteria for patentability are satisfied.