Obviousness (Part I)

obvious
[ob-vee-uh s]

adjective (Dictionary.com)

1. easily seen, recognized, or understood; open to view or knowledge; evident
2. lacking in subtlety

To reiterate from the last weeks, patents according to law must be "non-obvious". This is further elaborated by defining that "a person having ordinary skill in the art would not know how to solve the problem at which the invention is directed by using exactly the same mechanism". (Farflex Dictionary)

The concept of obviousness also takes into account the number of cites required in order to justify the patent. AKA the more prior art references, the more non-obvious the patent is likely to be.