I.

Introduction

Invention (device or process), creation of new devices, objects, ideas, or procedures useful in accomplishing human objectives. The process of invention is invariably preceded by one or more discoveries that help the inventor solve the problem at hand. A discovery may be accidental, such as the discovery of X rays by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen while he was experimenting with cathode rays, or induced, such as the invention of the lightning rod by Benjamin Franklin after he proved that lightning is an electrical phenomenon.

In common usage the term invention is applied only to the production of new materials or operable devices, and the term inventor is applied to a person who has produced a new device or material. Less frequently, the term invention is applied to a new procedure; thus a person may be said to have invented a new game or a new system of accounting. Under strict definition, however, anything produced by humans that is new and unique is an invention; this definition was recognized by Johann Sebastian Bach, who gave the title Inventions to a series of his short keyboard compositions.

In most countries, certain classes of inventions are legally recognized, and their use is temporarily restricted to the control of the inventor. In the United States, any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or material, or any new and useful improvement of these, may be protected by patent; written material, music, paintings, sculpture, and photographs may be protected by copyright. The protection afforded by this legal recognition is limited; in many cases, if a person alters an invention and thereby improves or changes it, that person may be eligible for a new patent or copyright. Patent and copyright laws do not provide coverage for all inventions. Many processes and ideas lacking clear-cut characteristics, such as psychological concepts useful in advertising, cannot be legally protected.