In accordance with its definition, the objective of a strategic publication is the disclosure of technical content in order to create prior art that is relevant for patent-law purposes. As a consequence, the novelty for patent-law purposes of the technical teaching described is destroyed and the level of inventive step required for similar applications for property rights is increased.

In general terms there are no legal rules as to precisely how effective strategic publications are to be made. Rather, the application parameters for strategic publications arise indirectly out of the legal requirements for applications for patents and other property rights, as well as examination guidelines and the relevant case law.

The patent system requires that an invention must be novel in order to be patentable. If something is part of the prior art it is not novel. The prior art covers all knowledge that is publicly available at the relevant time for examination purposes. The concept of prior art exists in all systems of patent law as a means of assessing novelty for patent-law purposes. For the purposes of the examination of novelty, an individual comparison is carried out. Novelty does not exist only when the technical teaching of an invention with all of its features is evident from a disclosure that is part of the prior art.

Furthermore, an invention is only patentable if it is based on an "inventive step". It is not based on an inventive step if it is "obvious to a person skilled in the art". The inventive step is assessed by way of a qualitative evaluation of the distance between the invention and the prior art overall. In the examination for "inventive step", a number of prior-art documents can be referred to in the form of a "mosaic examination".

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