1. Patentability requirements 

There are four basic requirements for patentability:

(i)there must be an "invention", belonging to any field of technology (see G‑II);

(ii)the invention must be "susceptible of industrial application" (see G‑III);

(iii)the invention must be "new" (see G‑IV to G-VI); and

(iv)the invention must involve an "inventive step" (see G‑VII).

A technical character is an implicit requisite for the presence of an "invention" within the meaning of Art. 52(1) (requirement (i) above, see G‑II, 1 and G-II, 2 for further details).

Furthermore,

– the invention must be such that it can be carried out by a person skilled in the art (after proper instruction by the application); this follows from Art. 83. Instances where the invention fails to satisfy this requirement are given in F‑III, 3; and

– the invention must relate to a technical field (Rule 42(1)(a) – see F‑II, 4.2), must be concerned with a technical problem (Rule 42(1)(c) – see F‑II, 4.5) and must have technical features in terms of which the matter for which protection is sought can be defined in the claim (Rule 43(1) – see F‑IV, 2.1).