Abstract :
Patent protection is the most difficult intellectual property protection to acquire but it is also the most powerful. I am frequently asked the question, "What is patentable in the United States?" The answer is that four requirements must be satisfied in order to attain and maintain patent protection in the United States. Those four requirements correspond to sections of the patent statute that are located under title 35 of the United States Code (35 U.S.C.): 101 (statutory subject matter), 102 (novelty), 103 (non-obviousness) and 112 (certain written requirements). This article will detail those four requirements and focus on how they relate to inventions relating to circuits and systems.
