This article is the result of research entitled Relativizacion de criterio de actividad inventiva en la concesion de patentes farmaceuticas en Colombia. It summarizes the speech of the Court of Justice of the Andean Community about the concept of inventive step. According to the general rules on industrial property, an invention is eligible for protection through the patent system if it meets the requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial application. However, despite the exclusivity that this right generates respect the manufacture, use and sale of a product or process; the officials responsible for evaluation, due to a lack of definition or the determination of rules and/or common procedures, are free to set the contents of the abovementioned conditions, and specially the meaning of the inventive step.