To be patentable, an invention must be novel (not previously disclosed anywhere), involve an inventive step (called non-obviousness in the US: not an obvious step from what's already known), and be useful or industrially applicable. It must also fall within eligible subject matter, which varies by jurisdiction: the US frames this as processes, machines, manufactured articles and compositions of matter, while Europe requires a technical invention and excludes categories like software and business methods “as such”.
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