How is novelty defined by law?
Understanding the novelty criterion

In everyday language, novelty can be defined as the character of that which has never been seen before or was not yet known. Such a definition raises many questions.

For example, this definition does not answer the question of by whom or in what territory a thing must never have been seen in order to be considered new. A priori, a thing can be new for some without necessarily being new for others.

Nor does this definition answer the question of how far a thing can be considered "known", and thus lose its novelty.

In French law ( article L. 611-11 paragraphe 1 du CPI ) or in the EPC (