Quantum Computing and Sect. 101
QC’s great appeal lies in the computational capabilities and power that it can theoretically achieve when performing certain specialized computing tasks that wouldn’t be possible or practical using classical (conventional) computers.
Because the QC field is still in early stages, patentability challenges to QC-related inventions based on novelty (Sect. 102) and obviousness (Sect. 103) are unlikely to pose serious issues. For one, QC is quite unlike anything we’ve known before. But the field’s very young age means much of the field’s goal of achieving practical QC remains largely an unknown quantity at this point. Coupled with the many extremely difficult engineering challenges facing the QC field, Sect. 101 could become problematic for QC-based inventions. It’s thus critical to ask whether a claimed QC-related invention offers real, rather than mere potential, utility before filing QC-related patent applications at this early a stage.
