human: What are the required criteria in order for a patent to be granted?
assistant: An invention must meet the following three criteria to be eligible for grant of patent: i) Novelty ii) Inventiveness (Non-obviousness) iii) Usefulness Novelty: An invention will be considered novel if, i) It does not form a part of the state of the art or has not been described orally, ii) It has not been published or used before the date of filing the patent application. Inventiveness (Non-obviousness): A patent application involves an inventive step if the proposed invention is not obvious to a person skilled in the art i.e., skilled in the subject matter of the patent application. The complexity or the simplicity of an inventive step does not have any bearing on the grant of a patent. Usefulness: An invention must possess utility for the grant of a patent. No valid patent can be granted for an invention devoid of utility.