📍 What if my invention uses known components in a new way to solve a problem? Can it still be patentable?
The answer is yes. You can put known components together in a new way to solve a problem and it can still be patentable. For patentability we need three things.
Useful
One, it needs to be useful. This is a pretty easy standard to meet. Most inventions are useful.
Novel
Two, the invention also needs to be novel. This also is a fairly easy standard to meet. All you need to do to meet this standard is change some minor aspect of the invention.
Non-Obvious
Three, finally, the invention needs to be non obvious. Wait, what? What does non obvious mean? According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, This requirement means that the invention was not obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of the invention. Wait, what? That, that isn't helpful. In practice, what non obvious means is that the invention has to have some type of inventive step or flash of genius and it needs to be above and beyond routine engineering.
So if you take known components and put them together in a new manner, in order for this invention to be patentable, we will need to show that the invention has some type of inventive step. This can typically be shown if the invention solves a long standing problem or unmet need. As you can imagine, the non obviousness standard is fairly subjective.
So before we file a patent application, we will take a close look at whether we can put forward a strong case to establish non obviousness before we file the application. So there is the answer in a nutshell. An invention that uses known components may be patentable as long as it is useful and novel and as long as a strong case for non obviousness can be made.