When does an invention involve an inventive step?

The grant of a patent or a utility model requires that your invention meets the following requirements:

• The invention must be novel which means that before filing the patent application the invention has not yet been disclosed to the public by any mean (or that no patent or utility model application having as subject-matter the same invention has been filed, which has not yet been published);
• The invention must be made or used in any kind of industry or in agriculture;
• The invention must involve an inventive step. This is a requirement that is assessed in the second place, immediately after the assessment of the novelty of the invention. 

Does the expression inventive step have the same meaning when applied to patents and utility models? Not necessarily. 
The law sets forth as follows:

Thus, for a patent application, after determining the closest state of the art of the claimed invention and the objective technical problem to be solved by the invention, it must be assessed if at the filing date of the patent application, a skilled practitioner in the relevant field of technology who is possessed of average knowledge and ability and is aware of what was common general knowledge in the art at the relevant date*, would, based on his or her knowledge of the closest state of the art, by logical deduction be led to achieve the claimed invention or not. If the answer is yes, then the invention involves an inventive step. 

As far as a utility model is concerned, although a similar evaluation can be performed in the light of the legal definition of inventive step which is similar to the one for a patent, considering the alternative legal definition it will suffice that an invention offers a practical or technical advantage. 

* everything that, inside or outside the country,  made available to the public "by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way.

14 June 2021