Applying for a patent is often associated with very complicated and breakthrough inventions. Does it mean that simple inventions are not granted patents? Let’s try to understand first what is an invention as per legal definition and what all shall it have in order to get a patent. The section 2 (j) of Indian Patents Act 1970 describes the invention as:
A new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application;
Analysis of definition of invention depicts that in order to have a patent granted, the invention shall be either a product or a process to prepare or manufacture a product. Invention shall also have inventive step, or we can say that invention shall appear non-obvious to a person skilled in the art and shall have industrial application. In combination the invention shall fulfill the following three conditions:
- New or novel meaning that there shall not be any prior patent, publication or use of the invention anywhere in the world.
- Industrially useful and such use shall be consistent. Invention shall be capable of being produced or used in an industry any number of times as necessary.
- Non-obvious to person skilled in the art or inventive step. This requirement of patentability is the toughest one to be determined and fulfilled. Non-obviousness is judged not from the perspective of a lay individual, but from the perspective of a person having ordinary skill in the art. This hypothetical person of ordinary skill represents a baseline against which the degree of innovation of an invention is measured.
Any invention, whether simple or complex if fulfils the above criteria of patentability may be awarded a patent. For example, post-it, invented and patented by 3M Corporation, basically is nothing but a piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of adhesive on the back. Post-it is a result of an initial discovery which was made by mistake in 1968. The scientist Spencer Silver at 3M Laboratories while conducting research to find a type of strong adhesive came up with the formula for a re-usable substance that adhered lightly to objects but could also be easily removed. However, the particular application of this substance was subsequently thought of by the researcher Arthur Fry. The biggest advantage of Post-it is that it can be used for temporarily attaching notes to documents and to other surfaces such as walls, desks, computer displays etc. It’s simple but extremely useful invention that was awarded a patent.
Looking at patentability of Post-it in terms of novelty, industrial utility and non-obviousness, the invention basically relates to “Small note sheets that have an adhesive strip along one of their edges”. Since there was no existing product prior to post-it, the invention was novel at that point of time. Invention was industrially useful as it gives a solution to a universal problem of inconvenience of having to remember an unending to-do list in both personal and professional life. And post-it enables people to stick notes to any surface without harming it. The basic elements of this invention such as paper and adhesive though existed in the prior art but their combination was found to be non-obvious and became a patentable product. The invention was considered to have fulfilled the criteria of patentability and was awarded a patent irrespective of its simplicity.
Other examples where simple inventions were granted patents are, paper clips which is nothing but a piece of wire bent into a certain shape but still there have been numerous patents on different paperclip designs over the years. Rubber bands, invented in the 1800s were patented in 1845 by Stephen Perry. No one has since improved on the basic rubber band design. The stapler, invented in the 1800s has evolved over the years and each variation has been patented at various times. The mechanism behind the stapler is so useful that today we even have medical staplers, which are used to staple tissue together during surgery. If you’ve ever dealt with a mess of cables coming out of your TV or your computer, you know how useful these Cable ties devices are. Hundreds of variations exist today, including cable organizers made with Velcro, plastic cases, and so on.
All the examples above show that patent is not always a result of high and complicated technology products and processes but the simple inventions do get a patent provided they are new/novel, industrially useful and sound non-obvious to a person skilled in the art. So, watch out the work or research you are doing, you may have something patentable. If it fulfils the criteria of patentability, probably you need to file a patent application for it!!
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