A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted to the inventor of an invention. To be granted a patent in the United States an inventor must file an application with the Untied States Patent and Trademark Office which demonstrates that the invention meets all the requirements for a patent. For a patent application to be granted, the application must demonstrate that the invention is new, useful and not obvious. The requirements that an invention be new, useful and not obvious are deceptively simple. Because of decades of case law each of these requirements have very specific meanings which are more complex than they seem.