TABLE OF CONTENTS Many inventions are tangible devices, such as a motor operating on a new principle or an electric cable having a particular construction. Patents are also granted for new materials, such as a new composition of glass for use in optical fibres or a new material for liquid crystal displays. A new method of making something can be patented, such as a cheaper way of making a known insulating high polymer or of doping a semiconductor. Test methods can also be protected.
An overall requirement is that the invention is capable of industrial application. As the examples above will show this phrase is interpreted broadly, it does not relate just to manufacturing industry, but is almost synonymous with having a practical use. For example, it includes agricultural applications and children's toys.
A new way of operating existing equipment can qualify, such as a mode of allocating the routes of telephone calls in a telephone network to minimise exchange overload, or a new way of combining existing measurements from an instrument array resulting in an improved process control system.
A number of things are specifically excluded from patent protection.
The discovery of a law of nature or a scientific theory about how something works cannot themselves be patented, but a practical application of that discovery or theory may qualify as an invention. So the discovery that E
