What can be patent protected?
Almost any useful device or process can be an invention. Certain inventions, such as a method of doing business or a method of medical treatment, are excluded from patentability in the United Kingdom and other European countries.
In order to obtain patent protection, it is necessary for the invention to be both new and not obvious. The Patent Office will therefore Search, Publish and Examine a patent application to help ensure that a patent is not granted which covers a previously known invention or an invention which is merely trivially different to something which is known.
This means that it is essential that an inventor keeps his or her invention confidential until an application is on file at the Patent Office, because any public disclosure, by any means anywhere in the world, before a patent application is filed may render a granted patent invalid. An exception to this is the USA, where a patent may still be obtained as long as an application is filed within one year of first public disclosure.