Invention refers to
|“||the act of devising or fabricating a novel device, process, or service. Invention describes the initial conception of a new product, process, or service, but not the act of putting it to use. Inventions can be protected by patents, though many inventions are not patented, and most patents are never exploited commercially.||”|
U.S. patent law
Under 35 U.S.C. §100(a), an invention is defined as an "invention or discovery." An invention is any art or process (way of doing or making things), machine, manufacture, design, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or any variety of plant, which is or may be patentable under the patent laws of the United States.