What Makes an Invention Patentable in the UK?

What makes an invention patentable in the UK? Can any new idea be patented? Does an invention have to be revolutionary to qualify for a patent? These are common questions, and the answers are often more nuanced than people expect.

These are common questions, and the answers are often more nuanced than people expect.

In popular culture, an invention is often imagined as a dramatic breakthrough: something entirely new, highly sophisticated and transformative. That certainly can happen. However, patent law is not limited to inventions of that kind. Worldwide patent filing volumes are far higher than the number of truly once-in-a-generation breakthroughs people see in everyday life. WIPO reports that innovators around the world filed about 3.7 million patent applications in 2024.

That is a helpful reminder that many patents are not for world-changing revolutions. Many are for practical, technical improvements that make products, systems or processes work better. A useful improvement may still be patentable even if it looks modest from the outside. At the same time, not every improvement, however commercially useful, will qualify for patent protection.

Under the Patents Act 1977, an invention is patentable in the UK only if it is new, involves an inventive step, is capable of industrial application, and is not excluded subject matter. Those are the core legal conditions.

In broad terms, there are therefore three principal positive requirements to consider, together with a separate question of whether the subject matter is excluded.

1. Industrial applicability

The first requirement is industrial applicability. In simple terms, the invention must be capable of being made or used in some kind of industry. This is usually not controversial for physical products, apparatus, manufacturing methods and many technical processes. However, it becomes more important where the alleged invention is abstract, speculative or insufficiently grounded in practical technical activity. The Patents Act 1977 makes industrial applicability one of the express conditions of patentability.

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