> 35 U.S.C. § 102. Obviousness means that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art, under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
This is the part that always gets me. Having read through over a couple thousand patents, it is my opinion that the vast majority of them are obvious to anyone skilled in the art. Some of them are so ridiculous that a university student about to finish a relevant degree would consider the claims obvious.
This bothers me deeply because patents that should not have been granted force us to play a patent arms race. If the other side has an axe, you have to have an equal or better axe...and it gets nastier from there.
In some industry sectors you'd be crazy to put out a product without ensuring you have enough legal weapons of IP war to protect yourself from other IP as well as slow down or eliminate copy cats and competitors who will gladly take advantage your your "R" (Research) at zero cost. In "R&D" the "R" is usually the most expensive phase. Once you know what you are building the "D" tends to be simpler, shorter and costs significantly less.
It stands to reason that getting a patent should become more and more difficult over time. As more is invented the "art" and those skilled in it become more sophisticated. Which means the rate of true invention should (not fake invention) should come down to an asymptotic level. We should see less true patents per year, not more fluff patents per year.