What is an 'invention'?

What is an 'invention'?

Well the law, in the UK at least, has no definition of an invention. But for an invention to be patentable, it has to be new, it has to involve what they call an inventive step, and it has to be capable of industrial application. It also has to be one of the kind's of things that's not excluded from patent law. Those kinds of things can be computer programs, aesthetic works, methods of doing business, and things like that. So things that aren't technical. But it's always good, if you think you've got something that might be excluded, to get advice from a patent attorney before you decide to go ahead or not to go ahead.