Utility patents are issued for useful articles (or improvements thereon) of manufacture, processes, compositions of matter, and machines.

In order to obtain a utility patent, an invention must have utility, be novel and non-obvious.

• Utility is very unlikely to pose a problem.
• Novelty means that the invention must be new. This means that it has not been disclosed in a single prior patent or publication.
• Obviousness is defined as whether an examiner at the United States Patent & Trademark Office can properly combine two or more patents or other publications and fully describe your claimed invention.