A patent can be a very important asset for a company. However, the path to obtaining one is often challenging. Only inventions that are completely new and demonstrate an inventive step are granted a patent. Therefore, the key criteria for patent grant are novelty and inventive step.

The justification of the inventive step regularly determines the outcome of the examination proceedings before the patent offices—the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) and the European Patent Office (EPO)—and in contentious cases before the Federal Patent Court (BPatG).

Consequently, the criterion of inventive step deserves the utmost attention. This specialized book provides readers with the legal know-how necessary to successfully justify the inventive step of their invention in proceedings before the DPMA, the EPO, and the BPatG, or to effectively challenge a third party’s patent in litigation.