Obviousness is a critical element to patentability. In essence, even if the applicant can demonstrate patentable subject matter, utility and novelty, the patent will not issue if the invention is trivial.
While the earliest C. megalodon remains were reported from late Oligocene strata, around 28 million years old, a more reliable date for the origin of the species is the early Miocene, about 23 million years ago.
TRILOBITES FIRST APPEARED AROUND 540 MILLION YEARS AGO. Their debut roughly coincided with the dawn of the Cambrian period. During this game-changing chapter in Earthâs history, multi-celled organisms went through an apparent explosion in diversity, or at least an explosion in life forms that leave fossils. New creaturesâincluding a barrage of mollusks and arthropodsâseem to have evolved at an unprecedented rate.