Can someone patent a naturally occurring substance?
Not in its natural state. However, a natural substance that has never before been isolated or known may be patentable in some instances, but only in its isolated form. A variation of a naturally occurring substance may be patentable if an inventor is able to demonstrate substantial non-obvious modifications that offer significant advantages in using the variant. What is the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)? The USPTO is the federal agency, organized under the department of Commerce, that administers patents on behalf of the government. The USPTO employs patent examiners skilled in all technical fields in order to appraise patent applications. The USPTO also issues federal trademark registrations. What is the definition of an inventor on a patent and who determines this? Under U.S. law, an inventor is a person who takes part in the conception of the ideas in the patent claims of a patent application. Thus, inventorship may change as the patent claims are changed during
No. A natural substance that has never before been isolated or known may be patentable in some instances, but only in its isolated form (since the isolated form had never been known before). A variation of a naturally occurring substance may be patentable if an inventor is able to demonstrate substantial advantages of using the variant.