Novelty Requirement

The novelty requirement is a principle in intellectual property law, particularly in patent law, that states an invention must be new and not previously known or used. In simple terms, for something to qualify for a patent, it cannot be the same as anything that has been publicly disclosed before. This means that if an idea or invention has already been described in detail in other sources or used by others, it cannot be patented. The goal is to ensure that patents are granted only for truly original ideas, encouraging innovation and progress.