Title: patentability
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - patentability
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12702
Status: current

Definition
Set of criteria that must be satisfied in order to achieve commercial exclusivity for an invention.

Note
These criteria are essentially the same in all major countries and include: suitability, novelty, inventiveness, utility, and the provision of an adequate description.

Related Term
- obviousness: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12696

Source
- PAC, 2013, 85, 1725. 'Glossary of terms used in medicinal chemistry. Part II (IUPAC Recommendations 2013)' on page 1745 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-12-11-23)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12702/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12702/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12702/xml

Citation: Citation: 'patentability' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12702
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-27T11:15:41+00:00