Patentable subject matter
Patents cover a process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter. Abstract ideas, laws of nature, names, logos, and creative works fall outside — those need trademark or copyright instead.
Patent Eligibility Test
Is your idea actually patentable?
Test your patent idea before you spend a dollar on it. Eight questions, about three minutes, scored against the real statutory requirements — not a marketing quiz. Free, instant, and nothing is sent to us unless you choose to send it.
Loading…
Behind the questions
What the test is actually checking
Every question maps to a requirement in U.S. patent law. Here's what each one means, so the result makes sense rather than feeling like a black box.
Not just an abstract idea
Software is patentable, but framing decides survival. Claims to a specific technical improvement hold up; claims to a business practice run on a generic computer are the fact pattern that lost in Alice.
Novelty
It has to be new — not already disclosed anywhere in the world, by anyone, including you. This is what a prior art search tests, and it's the single thing this tool cannot do for you.
The one-year clock
Publicly disclosing, selling, or offering your invention starts a twelve-month U.S. deadline that cannot be extended. Most other countries give no grace period at all. More rights are lost here than anywhere else.
Non-obviousness
Being new isn't enough — it can't be an obvious step for someone skilled in the field. This is where most applications are won or lost, and where evidence like long-felt need or unexpected results matters.
Enablement
You must describe the invention well enough for a skilled person to build it. You don't need a prototype — but whatever you leave out of the application can never be added later.
Straight talk
What a three-minute test can't tell you
We built this because the alternative — inventors guessing, or paying for an application before anyone has asked these questions — is worse. But it would be dishonest to oversell it.
- It performs no prior art search. Novelty and obviousness both turn on what already exists, and neither can be assessed from your description alone. A professional search is the real next step, and it's inexpensive relative to a filing.
- It takes your answers at face value. "It's not obvious" is exactly the judgement an examiner is paid to disagree with.
- It can't see the eighteen-month blind spot. Applications stay unpublished for eighteen months after filing, so there is always art nobody outside the USPTO can see.
- It doesn't ask whether a patent is a good business decision. Patentable and worth patenting are different questions.
Nothing here is legal advice, and using this tool doesn't create an attorney–client relationship. It's a starting point for a conversation — one we'll have with you for free. Tell us about your invention.
Free consultation
Get a real answer, from a person
Send us your results and we'll review them properly — including the prior art question this tool can't touch. No charge, no obligation, and we'll tell you if the answer is "don't file."