5. How is novelty assessed in practice?

As we have seen, the aim is to compare the invention with the state of the art.

In a patent or patent application, it's the claims that define the invention. The claims are therefore compared with the state of the art.

In the current state of the art, only a limited number of prior art references are taken into account, which are deemed to be the most relevant by the office or court assessing the novelty of the invention. These anteriorities have been identified by the Office in a search report, or by an opponent or a petitioner for invalidation of the patent, who has submitted them to the court. These anteriorities are most often prior patent applications or other written documents (such as scientific articles), but they can also be other types of disclosure such as oral disclosure, prior use, etc.

A claim may define...