Book excerpt: Written by an individual with experience as both a chemist and a patent attorney, The Chemist's Companion Guide to Patent Law covers everything the student or working chemist needs to know about patentability, explaining important concepts of patent law (such as novelty, non-obviousness, and freedom-to-operate) in easy-to-understand terms. Through abundant examples from case law as well as real-world situations with which a researcher might be faced, this book provides readers with a better understanding of how to put that knowledge into practice.