A technical invention is patentable, only if it meets the following conditions:
1. new, not yet released, not comprised in the state of the art
The state of the art comprises everything made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way, before the date of filing of the patent application. Additionally, pre-released descriptions of the invention, even by the the inventor himself, are considered as comprised in the state of the art.
The utility model provides an alternative option where pre-releases by the applicant or his predecessor in title within the six months preceding the date of filing are not taken into consideration.
2. sufficient inventive performance, innovativeness
If a person skilled in the art derives a solution of a problem in an obvious way from the prior art, his idea is without inventive step and therefore not patentable.
3. commercially applicable and usable
Many healthcare professions are not regulated by law. Therefore, for example, surgical or therapeutical treatments and some diagnostic procedures are inventions without commercial applicability.
4. ethical
Inventions whose exploitation or publication would contravene the public policy are not patentable. Thereby it is irrelevant if the use of an invention is prohibited by law (burglar tools, production of harmful food).
5. conforming to natural laws
Evidently, the existence of a perpetuum mobile would defy the laws of physics.
