Originality refers to something being new or novel. It is not received from others nor copied from the creations of others. The word is often applied in an admiring fashion to the creations of artists, writers and thinkers. Originality is highly regarded in most western cultures.
In United States patent law, only original inventions are subject to protection - with the caveat that an invention may be original if a previous inventor had developed the same thing but not made it public, or had developed it in another country and not introduced it into the U.S. In addition to being original, inventions submitted for a patent must also be useful and nonobvious.
