You’ve put in the work. You’ve built something smart. Maybe it’s a piece of software, a new system, a tool, or even just a better way of doing something old. You’re solving a real problem, and now your brain’s whispering: should I patent this?
What does “patentable” actually mean?
Let’s go deeper into this, because this is where most businesses trip up.
It’s easy to say your invention is new or useful. But patentable means something very specific when it comes to the actual law.
And if you get this part wrong, the rest doesn’t matter. Your application will be dead on arrival—or worse, get granted and then later invalidated if challenged.
So let’s unpack it, piece by piece.
Being “new” isn’t about being first in your friend group
This is critical. Being “new” doesn’t just mean you haven’t seen it before. It means it hasn’t been done anywhere in the world in a way that’s publicly known.
That includes patents, yes, but also obscure journals, old blog posts, product manuals, even university projects tucked away in an online archive.
Your job isn’t just to assume it’s new. It’s to prove that it is—by actively looking for prior art.
If you skip this, you risk wasting months of time and thousands of dollars on something that was already out there.
The strategic move? Treat prior art search as part of your product validation process. Do it early.
Do it before pitching, demoing, or publishing. Because once you go public, the window for protection starts closing.
This doesn’t mean you need to do a global search yourself. That’s where PowerPatent helps—combining software + patent attorneys to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Being “useful” means solving a real problem in a real way
Usefulness isn’t just about functionality. It’s about solving something someone cares about—especially in a way that’s specific and measurable.
If you can tie your invention to a business case, a product need, or a known limitation in existing solutions, that’s gold.
In fact, when you can clearly explain why your invention matters—why it moves the needle—it often strengthens the patent application.
Examiners are human. When they see that you’re not just filing for fun, but that your invention has real-world impact, it helps them take it seriously.
Here’s something most founders miss: the usefulness test is also your best pitch.
If you can’t describe why your invention is useful in plain terms, you’re probably not ready to file. But if you can? You’re already halfway to building a solid case.
“Non-obvious” is about the unexpected leap—so make it clear
Let’s say your invention builds on something that already exists. That’s totally fine. Most patents are improvements, not completely new inventions from scratch.
But you need to show what makes your improvement clever. Unique. Not the kind of thing anyone in your field would naturally do next.
This is where most weak patents fall apart. They describe something real, something that technically works—but they don’t show the leap.
They don’t answer the silent question the examiner is asking: “So what?”
The answer lies in how you tell the story of your invention.
Frame your invention in terms of the problem it solves, not just the tech behind it.
Then explain why the existing solutions were flawed, limited, or didn’t even try. Then show how your approach is different—and what that difference enables.
This isn’t just about legal strength. It’s about defensibility. If someone tries to copy your work later, a strong “non-obvious” argument gives your patent more power.
It makes it harder to challenge. Harder to design around. And easier to enforce, if you ever need to.
Business tip: treat “patentable” like a go/no-go filter
Here’s something smart teams do: they build a simple process into their product dev cycle.
Every time something new is created—a system, a method, a model, a process—they ask: is this patentable?
If the answer is “maybe,” they log it. Not every idea needs to be patented. But the ones that are new, useful, and not obvious?
Those are often the core of your competitive edge. And if you wait too long, you lose the chance to protect them.
PowerPatent makes this step easy by helping your team capture ideas as they happen, screen them quickly, and decide what’s worth filing.
No more losing big ideas because you didn’t act fast enough.
How to tell if your invention is new
Knowing whether your invention is truly “new” is the first real gate you need to pass. And it’s not a soft gate—it’s firm. If your invention isn’t new, it’s not patentable. End of story.
But most founders and engineering teams don’t have a reliable way to check this. They either rely on gut feeling or do a quick Google search and call it a day. That’s risky.
You need a system. Because “new” doesn’t mean no one else has built your exact product.
It means no one has publicly described anything that works the same way, solves the same problem, or uses the same method—even if it’s buried in an obscure patent from ten years ago.
Think like a patent examiner, not a product builder
When you’re building something, your brain is wired to ship. You’re looking at user needs, feature sets, market fit.
That’s the product lens. But when it comes to patents, you need to flip into examiner mode.
Patent examiners aren’t asking “Is this valuable?” They’re asking “Has this—or something close to it—been disclosed before?” It’s a detective job.
They’re comparing what you’ve filed with every known description in their global database of patents, publications, white papers, technical manuals, and academic research.
You need to think like them—before they do.
That means searching for function, not brand names. Looking for how things work, not what they’re called.
Using technical language, not just your company’s naming.
If your invention compresses data faster using a new method, don’t search for your product name.
Search for papers on data compression, similar algorithms, adjacent fields. See if your core idea already exists under a different name or description.
Go beyond Google: treat search like a real part of your strategy
Google is a good starting point. But it’s not where real patent searching happens.
Many prior inventions—especially those in patents—aren’t indexed well on Google. They’re buried in government databases or hard-to-read filings.
You want to search the actual patent databases. That includes the USPTO, the European Patent Office, WIPO, and others.
Look at both granted patents and published applications. Applications matter, because they still count as prior art even if they were never approved.
Also search in technical forums. GitHub. Research databases like arXiv. Anything public counts.
If this sounds like a lot—it is. But it’s also what separates smart founders from the ones who get blindsided by a rejection later.
The good news is that tools like PowerPatent automate much of this. You don’t need to manually dig through a hundred PDFs.
We help you focus fast on what matters—and flag what’s close, risky, or a dealbreaker.
Capture what you didn’t find—it’s just as valuable
Here’s a pro move most businesses miss. While searching, document what you searched for and what you didn’t find.
That’s useful for two reasons.
First, it helps you build a record in case someone challenges your patent later. You can show you did your due diligence. That matters in litigation.
Second, it sharpens your pitch. If you didn’t find any prior art that solves the problem the way you do, that’s a strong story for investors, customers, and partners.
You’re not just “innovative”—you’re demonstrably different.
At PowerPatent, we even help founders include this narrative in their applications. It shows the examiner you’ve done your homework, and often leads to a faster, smoother process.
Use every new feature as a patent opportunity
If your company ships often, that means you’re creating new inventions all the time—even if you don’t think of them that way.
A product release might include a new backend optimization. A performance boost. A new integration method. A better way to trigger events or handle scale.
Each of those is a potential patent—if it’s new.
The trick is to treat your changelog as a goldmine. Every time your team ships something meaningful, ask: has anyone else done this before?
If not, log it. Discuss it. And if it looks promising, run a quick prior art search. It might be a keeper.
When you make this a habit, you don’t miss key inventions just because they felt “too small” at the time.
And often, it’s those small wins—quiet, deep innovations under the hood—that end up being the most defensible patents.
If you’re unsure, assume you’re close—and double-check
Most founders don’t have the luxury of full certainty. You’re moving fast. You don’t always know what’s out there.
But if something feels unique—if your gut says, “I haven’t seen this approach before”—don’t ignore that instinct.
Just don’t stop there, either.
Treat that moment as your signal to dig deeper. And remember, the cost of checking is small. The cost of filing too soon—or not filing at all—can be huge.
That’s where tools like PowerPatent change the game. You don’t need to be a patent lawyer or search expert.
You just need to feed in your invention, and we’ll help you check if it’s already out there—or if it’s worth protecting before someone else does.
👉 Want to make sure your invention is truly new? PowerPatent helps you find out fast: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
How to know if your invention is useful
This part seems easy, right? Your invention does something. It works. It solves a problem. That should mean it’s useful.
But in the patent world, “useful” has a very specific purpose. It’s not just about functionality.
It’s about purpose, clarity, and value. And from a business point of view, it’s one of the best ways to sharpen your invention before you even file.
Utility is about real-world results, not abstract ideas
An invention needs to do more than exist in theory. It must have a clear use, and that use needs to be specific.
Not general. Not a vague “it improves things.” You need to show how it delivers a result that someone would care about.
For example, if you’ve built a new kind of software architecture, you need to explain what it actually improves.
Is it faster? Does it use less memory? Does it scale better in distributed systems? These are real, measurable outcomes. That’s utility.
Now think about how this plays into your patent strategy.
If your invention shows clear utility, you’re not just more likely to get the patent—you’re more likely to keep it if someone challenges it later. That’s strategic strength.
Link your invention’s use to a clear business value
This is where usefulness becomes a competitive advantage. Think of your patent not just as legal protection—but as an asset.
Something that investors, partners, and even acquirers will study.
The most compelling inventions aren’t just technically impressive. They move the needle on cost, performance, adoption, or access.
They solve a pain point people are actively trying to escape. If your invention makes something faster, simpler, or more scalable, that’s business utility—and it’s patent gold.
When you describe your invention’s usefulness in your application, make that connection clear.
Show how it fits into a workflow, how it improves an industry norm, or how it eliminates a bottleneck.
That’s how you get the examiner’s attention. And it’s how you build a patent that matters in the real world—not just on paper.
If you’re early-stage, show how it could work in practice
You don’t need a full product or a running prototype to prove usefulness.
But you do need to be able to describe it clearly enough that someone in your field could build it and use it. That’s the threshold.
In other words, your invention can be early. But it can’t be fuzzy.
Here’s the strategy: take time to explain how the invention could be implemented. Walk through a realistic use case.
Use diagrams if needed. Anticipate questions. What inputs does it need? What does it output? What are the constraints?
The clearer you make this, the stronger your claim of usefulness becomes. And the less room you leave for rejection or confusion.
Usefulness is your strongest signal to file
This part is simple but often overlooked: if your invention is already being used—by you, your team, or early users—that’s your signal to move fast.
The moment your invention becomes useful in practice, the clock starts ticking. It might be running on a staging server.
It might be in private beta. But if it’s working, even partially, that means it’s exposed. It might become public. And if it does, you risk losing your rights.
From a business perspective, the best time to file is just before usefulness becomes visible to the outside world. Not after.
This is why smart teams create a rhythm around patent review. Every few weeks, they look at what’s being built.
What’s shipping. What’s launching soon. They look at usefulness as a trigger—because once it’s useful, it’s worth protecting.
And if you’re not sure whether your invention meets the threshold, tools like PowerPatent help you evaluate quickly and clearly. We look at your invention, ask the right questions, and help you decide if it’s time to lock it down.
Make “usefulness” part of your product narrative
When founders think about patents, they usually think protection. But there’s another angle—positioning.
When you describe your invention’s usefulness in a patent, you’re also telling the story of how it fits into the future.
This matters a lot when you’re talking to investors, partners, or the media. A strong patent backed by real-world usefulness shows you’re not just building features.
You’re building systems. Solutions. Long-term IP that can anchor a company.
So instead of treating patent usefulness as just a checkbox, think of it as strategic storytelling. A way to show that what you’re building is not only smart—but necessary.
👉 If your invention already solves something useful, PowerPatent can help you protect it fast. See how it works: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
How to know if your invention is non-obvious
This is the trickiest part of the patentability test—and often the most misunderstood. Because “non-obvious” doesn’t mean “groundbreaking” or “never thought of before.”
It means your invention wouldn’t be an easy next step for someone skilled in your field. In other words, it has to show a real leap—not just a smart tweak.
And for startups, this is where your thinking can become your advantage. You don’t have to reinvent everything.
You just have to show why your solution wasn’t obvious—and why it changes the game in a way others didn’t expect.
Examiners look at patterns, not just ideas
Patent examiners aren’t just reading your application in a vacuum. They’re trained to look at trends. Fields of knowledge. The direction of innovation in your industry.
Their job is to ask: if someone else working on the same problem had access to the same information, would they naturally arrive at the same solution?
If the answer is yes, you’re in trouble. But here’s the good news: you can shape that conversation.
When you write your application, or even when you’re evaluating your invention, don’t just describe what it does.
Show why it wasn’t obvious. Highlight what others missed. Explain why the typical solution failed—and why your approach required a different way of thinking.
For example, if others in your field solved a problem using hardware, and you solved it with a lightweight software architecture, that contrast could be key.
It shows you didn’t just tweak—you shifted. And shifts are what make an invention patentable.
The best patents tell a before-and-after story
From a business perspective, your goal is to position your invention not just as new—but as surprising. Something that stands out against the status quo.
The best way to do this is by framing your invention as a story of contrast. What were people doing before?
What assumptions were baked into their approach? Then, show how you broke from that pattern.
Maybe others relied on brute-force computation, and you introduced a filtering mechanism that cuts 90% of the load before processing.
Maybe everyone assumed a piece of hardware was essential, but you removed it entirely with a clever workaround.
These aren’t just features—they’re evidence that your idea wasn’t an obvious jump.
The stronger you make this contrast, the easier it is for an examiner—and anyone else reading your patent—to see that your invention had to be invented.
It didn’t just appear because someone followed the next logical step.
Think of “non-obvious” as a competitive filter
This is where non-obviousness becomes a strategic advantage for your business.
Think of it this way: if your invention really is non-obvious, that means competitors aren’t likely to stumble upon it accidentally.
That means your moat is real. That means your advantage has staying power.
A patent that meets the non-obvious standard is much harder to design around. It’s harder to invalidate. It’s harder to replicate. That makes it valuable—both on paper and in practice.
So use this standard as a filter. When your team comes up with new ideas, ask: would a competitor with the same resources and knowledge have come to this solution?
If the answer is no—or even “not easily”—you might be looking at something worth protecting.
And remember: the market rewards defensibility. When you can show that your product is built on insights others didn’t see, your story becomes stronger.
Your pitch becomes tighter. And your IP becomes something investors actually care about.
How to frame “non-obvious” in a patent application
Once you’ve identified the non-obvious element of your invention, you need to make it unmistakably clear in your application.
This isn’t about overselling or exaggerating. It’s about clarity. And contrast.
Describe the conventional approach. Be specific. Then walk through your invention’s structure, step-by-step, and explain what changed.
Highlight why those changes matter. Use outcomes, technical limitations, and performance improvements to prove the point.
When an examiner reads that, they’re not guessing. They see the shift. They see the intentional design.
And most importantly—they see that your invention deserves a patent.
At PowerPatent, we help founders do this in a structured way.
Our system makes it easy to capture the innovation story behind the tech. Not just the what, but the why—and the why-not-anyone-else.
👉 If you think your invention might be non-obvious, we can help you prove it. See how PowerPatent makes it simple: https://powerpatent.com/how-it-works
Wrapping It Up
You don’t need to be a legal expert to figure out if your invention is patentable. You just need to ask the right questions—and take the right steps early. Is it new? Is it useful? Is it non-obvious? If you can answer those honestly, and back it up with a little evidence, you’re way ahead of most startup teams.
