Section 102 (U.S. Patent Act)

Section 102 of the U.S. Patent Act outlines the criteria for establishing the novelty of an invention. Essentially, it states that an invention cannot be patented if it was already known publicly before the inventor’s filing date, whether through prior patents, publications, or public use. This means the invention must be genuinely new and not previously available to the public. If an identical invention was disclosed earlier, it cannot be patented later, ensuring patents are only granted for truly novel ideas.