Nonobviousness

Nonobviousness is a patentability requirement that an invention must not be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) at the time of filing. It complements novelty and is intended to prevent patenting trivial or predictable improvements.

In the United States, the standard derives from Graham v. John Deere Co. and, after KSR v. Teleflex, emphasizes a flexible, common-sense approach. The analysis considers (1) the scope and content of the prior art, (2) the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art, (3) the level of ordinary skill in the art, and (4) any secondary considerations such as commercial success, long-felt need, or teaching away. A finding of obviousness can result if a person of ordinary skill would have combined familiar elements in a predictable way to arrive at the claimed invention.

In Europe, inventive step is assessed under the European Patent Convention with the problem-solution approach: identify the closest prior art, determine the objective technical problem, and assess whether the claimed invention, starting from that art, would have been an obvious solution. If yes, it lacks inventive step.

Other jurisdictions use similar concepts (Canada: inventive step; Australia: not obvious). In practice, nonobviousness interacts with novelty and enablement, and may be supported by evidence of unexpected technical effect or other objective indicia.