Landers, Amy L. --- "The inventive step and cooperative harmonization" [2013] ELECD 574; in Takenaka, Toshiko (ed), "Intellectual Property in Common Law and Civil Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 81

Book Title: Intellectual Property in Common Law and Civil Law

Editor(s): Takenaka, Toshiko

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857934369

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: The inventive step and cooperative harmonization

Author(s): Landers, Amy L.

Number of pages: 18

Abstract/Description:

The legal concept of invention has deep historic and political roots. The principle that patents should be reserved for genuine contributions has been traced back as early as the 16th century. Although there are central consistencies among current systems, today the inventive step is marked by distinctions that arise from patent systems based on diverse doctrines, approaches, and economic policies. There is worldwide support for the inventive step’s existence. Unlike more controversial doctrines in intellectual property, there is a virtually uniform understanding that utility patents should not be granted for trivial advances. Currently, over one hundred nations and regions have implemented an inventive step requirement. As additional evidence of its acceptance, participants of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) efforts toward a worldwide Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT), have achieved broad consensus in principle that an inventive step requirement warrants inclusion in the draft.