With respect to U.S. patents, one need not provide a working model or proof that one has actually made a prototype and successfully tested an invention in order to obtain a patent. The statutory classes of patentable subject matter include methods, apparatus, products, compositions of matter, designs, and plants. An idea that lacks sufficient detail to satisfy the statutory disclosure and claim requirements is not patentable. This idea would not be patentable. On the other hand, if an individual had detailed drawings and a description of a hydraulically operated robot that would traverse the swimming pool bottom and pick up debris under the influence of fluid flow as well as brush or otherwise clean the bottom, this type of idea, even though it had never be tried, could be patentable.
Design patents protect the overall ornamental appearance of an article.
Designs can be protected by a design patent even though they are in the idea phase, because they do not need to have physical existence apart from drawings in order to be patentable. Traditionally, one type of idea that has been deemed unpatentable is something that is merely a way of doing business. For example, even if no one had previously thought of the concept, if a grocery store owner decided to distribute discount coupons having different values on certain days of the week and redeem them for the indicated discounts, such a promotion would generally be considered merely a way of doing business and would not be patentable. While the coupon might be copyrighted, this would only prevent copying of the coupon and would not prevent a competitor from using the idea with a different coupon. In recent years, in connection with computer software subject matter, there have been a number of patents issued for computerized systems for processing financial, accounting, or investment information.