novelty

Novelty describes something that is new or original. A novel legal issue refers to a question that has not been addressed by the court, leaving the court with no binding precedent on the matter. A novel legal issue is commonly called a case of first impression .

In patent law, novelty is one of the statutory requirements for obtaining a patent .

Generally, novelty requires that the claimed invention has not been patented, described in a printed publication, in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public ( prior art ) before the applicant filed the patent application. See 35 U.S.C. §102(a) . However, there is an exception if the public disclosure was made by the applicant and occurred less than one year before they filed the patent application. See 35 U.S.C. §102 (b) .

[Last reviewed in September of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team ]

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