How Can You Protect Your Inventions?

Inventioneers Expand "Obviousness" Tip

Who decides what ideas are "obvious"?  Well, it could be the USPTO and/or the courts.  This is an interesting sticking point.  One problem is what's called a "hindsight bias".  Wow, that sounds complicated.  Well, all it means is that after someone explains an idea to you, guess what, it seems obvious!  BUT, was it obvious before it was explained to you?  Which came first, the chicken or the egg.  Here this dilemma explained in a journal article:

Is Your Invention "Non-Obvious"?

The second patentability test requires that your invention must be "non-obvious".  This test requires a high degree of objectivity which is not always easy for an inventor. The official explanation for non-obviousness is that "a person having ordinary skill in the art"* would not be able to easily figure out the same solution your invention presents.

*a fictional person who is considered to have the normal skills and knowledge in a particular technical field, without being a genius (Wikipedia)

The following explanation might help you understand this test.  Check out this example of an invention that failed the "obviousness" test:

Inventioneers' Quote of the Day

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves." 

- Thomas Edison