Patent Eligibility
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) grants patents to individual and corporate inventors. The USPTO only grants patents to eligible subject matter as defined by the United States Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court has issued several rulings explaining exactly what is and is not eligible for a patent. Inventors determine patent eligibility from U.S. Supreme Court precedent and United States Patent and Trademark Office requirements.
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Definition
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Patent eligibility defines exactly what types of processes, materials, drugs, software, designs and plants may receive patent grants from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As a guideline, the USPTO adheres to United States Code Title 35 Section 101 when defining patent eligibility. This U.S. Code states that patentable subject matter includes "any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter."
Novelty
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According to the United States Supreme Court, only new or novel products, designs, manufactured articles, compositions of matter or plant life may receive patent protection. To determine the novelty of an invention, the USPTO requires a prior art search. The prior art search scours technical journals, academic journals and previously granted patents to determine if any published material about the proposed invention already exists. If it does exist, the invention is not eligible for a patent.
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Usefulness
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An invention must provide a useful result to be eligible for a patent. The 1966 Supreme Court ruling of Brenner v. Manson explained that drugs could only receive patent protection if they provided a specific benefit to patients. Additionally, the federal courts have ruled that abstract ideas may not receive patents as they are not useful. The usefulness provision of United States Code Title 35 Section 101 remains under scrutiny by lawyers and the courts.
Non-obviousness
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United States Code Title 35 Section 103 explains that subject matter can only be patented if the matter is not obvious to a "person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains." In other words, inventors may not patent processes, machines or compositions of matter that an ordinary person in the field of the invention already knows.
Own Work
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Finally, inventors may only submit their own work to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Part of the patent application includes an oath or declaration that all inventors sign prior to submission. This oath indicates the inventor authored or created the invention.
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References
- Cornell University Law School: United States Code-Title 35,101 Inventions Patentable
- United States Patent and Trademark Office: Small Business-Patent Law-Prior Art Searching and Existing Patents
- University of Connecticut Law School: Brenner v. Manson (1966)
- Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP: Intellectual Property Law
- United States Patent and Trademark Office: 35 U.S.C. 103 Conditions for Patentability
Resources
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