nonobviousnessn.
/nɒnˈɒbvɪəsnəs/, U.S. /nɑnˈɑbviəsnəs/ Esp. in patent law: the state or quality of not being obvious (obvious adj. 1d).
ΚΠ
1929 Rep. Patent, Design & Trade Mark Cases 17 Apr. 179 The non-obviousness of the kind referred to by Dr Hartley does not, in my opinion, convert a step which is in fact obvious into a step calling for the exercise of the inventive faculty.
1972 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 10 Oct. 5/2 Novelty may be assumed, to the extent that there is, indeed, differentiation between novelty of invention and nonobviousness.
1992 Sci. Amer. July 83/1 Venter's technique is based on procedures well known to molecular biologists, raising questions about its nonobviousness.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1929