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To obtain a patent on a new invention, an inventor must show that these three criteria are met:

1. The invention is novel and nonobvious: that is, the invention is really new. The invention must not have been described or discovered by another before the inventor filed a patent application. The invention must also not be obvious from the prior work of others. In patenting a gene or a protein, the requirement for novelty and nonobviousness usually means that the inventor must know the chemical structure of the new gene or protein. If that structure already is known, the inventor can't meet this requirement.
2. The invention is useful. The inventor must show that the invention has a real-world use. It isn't enough just to find a new gene or protein. The inventor must specify what the uses are; for example, whether the gene or protein is useful as a drug for disease X or as a target for disease Y or as a diagnostic marker for disease Z.
3. The application describes the invention in sufficient detail to allow the public to make and use the invention. The inventor must teach or "enable" other persons that are skilled in the technological area of the invention to use the invention described by the inventor.

In addition to the above criteria, a description of the material or tool for which a patent is sought cannot have been published in print, here in the United States or abroad. Also, if the invention has been on sale or in use in this country for a year before the application is filed, a patent will not be awarded to the invention.

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