35 U.S.C. § 103
Conditions for patentability; non-obvious subject matter
United States · Title 35 — PATENTS · Status: effective
Cite this
- Citation
- 35 U.S.C. § 103, Conditions for patentability; non-obvious subject matter, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/470808
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Full text
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Legislative history
The public laws that enacted or amended this section. Tallies are for the whole bill as it passed each chamber — often an omnibus covering far more than this provision — not a vote on this section alone. The law that originally enacted this section predates the public laws loaded here, so only later amendments are listed.
- Patent Law Amendments of 1984House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, with respect to patents on biotechnological processes.House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000
- Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) Act of 2004House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Leahy-Smith America Invents Act