Novelty
Novelty is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an individual.
From the meaning of being unusual, usage is derived the concept of the novelty dance ; the novelty song ; the novelty show ; and novelty architecture. It is also this sense that applies to a novelty item, a small manufactured adornment, toy or collectible. These, in turn are often used as promotional merchandise in marketing. The chess term, novelty, is used for a move in chess which has never been played before in a recorded game.
The term can have pejorative sense and refer to a mere innovation. However, novelty in patent law is part of the legal test to determine whether an invention is patentable. A novelty effect is the tendency for performance to initially improve when new technology is instituted.