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What can be patented?
Under U.S. law, various types of invention can be patented. These are:
- A process - for example, a process of making a chemical by combining chemical X with chemical Y, or a method of treating a cancer patient by administering a specific drug.
- A machine - for example, a flat-screen high-definition television set or an X-ray machine.
- An article of manufacture - for example, a silicon computer chip or a specially molded piece of plastic for an automobile bumper.
- A composition of matter - for example, a new pharmaceutical drug or a new plastic for use in kitchen counters.
- Any new and useful improvement to an invention that falls under any of these categories.
Other types of inventions or discoveries cannot be patented; these include naturally occurring organisms, laws of nature, natural or physical phenomena, and abstract ideas.
Biotechnology Patents
Biotechnology inventions generally fall into one of two classes:
1) New compositions of matter related to newly discovered isolated genes or proteins or to pharmaceutical inventions based on those genes or proteins. One cannot patent a naturally occurring gene or protein as it exists in the body, but one can patent a gene or protein that has been isolated from the body and is useful in that form as a pharmaceutical drug, screening assay or other application.
2) Methods of treating patients with a given disease through the use of a particular gene or protein. Even if someone has a patent on a gene or protein, a second inventor can obtain a patent on a new use of that gene or protein, if the second inventor discovers a new use for the substance.
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