Background
Further information: Patent, prior art, and Internet.In most patent laws, an (alleged) invention has to be "new" and "inventive" (or non-obvious, which is basically synonymous of "inventive") to be considered "patentable", i.e. to be validly patented. An invention is considered to be new if it does not form part of the "prior art" (or state of the art), i.e. if it was not already disclosed in the prior art. An invention is considered to be inventive if it is not obvious in view of the prior art. The prior art is essentially everything which was made available to the public before the filing date of the patent.
In practice, if a device or a method was already known (e.g. described in a scientific paper) before the filing date of the patent covering the device or the method or if the device or method is obvious in view of what was known before the filing date, then, in general, it is not considered to be new (because known before the filing date) or not considered to be inventive (because obvious in view of what was known before the filing date of the patent), and then not considered "patentable". A patent cannot be obtained for the device or method, or, if obtained ("granted"), it can generally be "invalidated".
The identification of the prior art is therefore of utmost importance to determine whether an invention is patentable, i.e. whether a patent can be granted for an invention (or whether a patent which has been granted for an invention is valid). The purpose of the novelty criterion is to prevent the prior art being patented again.
The Internet is a popular source of technical information and is of particular interest for the purposes of establishing the prior art. Its use is however surrounded by concerns as to its reliability.
Read more about this topic: Internet As A Source Of Prior Art
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