What is the role of a patents office?

The role of a patents office is primarily to assess whether an invention is novel and meets the legislative requirements for patentability. This involves evaluating the uniqueness of an invention compared to existing knowledge and ensuring it meets specific criteria such as usefulness, non-obviousness, and being adequately described in the patent application. The patent office acts as a gatekeeper for intellectual property rights, helping to protect inventors' innovations by granting them exclusive rights to their inventions for a certain period. This process is crucial for encouraging innovation and fair competition, as it provides inventors with the assurance that their ideas cannot be easily copied.

In contrast, manufacturing products, distributing them, or tracking sales are not functions of a patents office. Instead, these activities typically fall under the domains of businesses, manufacturers, and market analysts, all of whom operate in the commercial sector rather than within the regulatory framework of patent law.