IP Intelligence › Myths › My patent is strong because the invention was hard to make.
Patent myth
“My patent is strong because the invention was hard to make.”
Strength comes from claim scope and defensibility, not from how much work the invention took.
Obviousness is judged through a notional skilled person who has all the prior art and no imagination, not through what you experienced. And enforceability comes down to whether a competitor has to practise your claims to compete. An invention that took five years can produce a narrow patent; one that took a weekend can produce a broad one.
Effort is a poor proxy for value, and it leads teams to over-invest in the wrong cases.
Sources & further reading
- The Patents Act, 1970 (consolidated to 1 August 2024) — Official IP India text
Related
Person skilled in the art
A legal fiction: a competent practitioner in the relevant field who knows the common general knowledge and all the prior art, but has no inventive capacity of their …
Patent valuation
Estimating the economic value of a patent or a portfolio - typically by cost, by market comparables, or by the income it can be expected to protect or generate.
The patent that only covers what you already sell
There is a version of every application that will be granted: the one narrowed to precisely what you already sell. It is also the version competitors do not need to …
Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.
Educational guidance, not legal advice. This material is published by Ragulika IP for general education and information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a professional-client relationship, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Patentability, infringement, prosecution strategy and every other IP outcome turn on the specific facts and on the law and Patent Office practice as they stand at the time you act. Please take professional advice before making a decision, and read the underlying provision or judgment before relying on any point stated here.
Last reviewed by Ragulika IP on 2026-08-23. Indian patent law and Patent Office practice change; check the position before you rely on it.