An invention is a technical solution created to solve a technical problem. Discoveries, business plans or plans for performing a mental act, rules, instructions, methods and business ideas are not considered inventions and therefore cannot be patented. Legal protection of inventions is one of the most important motive forces behind the scientific-technical progress.Granting legal protection to an invention (patenting) represents a social agreement between the proprietor of the invention and other members of the society according to which the proprietors of the inventions publish their inventions upon receiving legal protection and in return the state guarantees them exclusive right to use and dispose of the inventions for a specified period of time determined by law.

An invention is patentable if it is novel (worldwide novelty), if it involves an inventive step and is susceptible to industrial application. To be granted legal protection for an invention, an application has to be filed with the Patent Office along with a description of the invention, a patent claim stating the scope and content of legal protection, an abstract of the subject matter of the invention and possible drawings. Compiling of the description of the invention and especially of the patent claim is complicated and requires specific technical as well as legal knowledge which is why it is meaningful to use the help of patent attorneys who have had special training in the respective field and who have acquired relating work experience.

In Estonia, an invention can be protected by a patent or by a utility model certificate.