1. Why does an invention have to be new?

Both French law and the European Patent Convention (EPC, the text which defines the law applicable to European patents) require the same three basic conditions to obtain a patent on an invention:

• the invention must be new;

• the invention must involve an inventive step;

• the invention must be susceptible of industrial application.

This article focuses on the first of these requirements, the need for novelty.

Patent laws may differ from country to country, but the requirement of novelty as a condition for patentability of an invention is present throughout the world.

The universality of this requirement is well understood when we realize that the right conferred by a patent enables the holder...