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As with all utility patents in the United States, a biological patent provides the patent holder with the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the claimed invention or discovery in biology for a limited period of time - for patents filed after 1998, 20 years from the filing date.[1]
Until recently, natural biological substances themselves could be patented (apart from any associated process or usage) in the United States if they were sufficiently "isolated" from their naturally occurring states. Prominent historical examples of such patents on isolated products of nature include adrenaline, insulin, vitamin B12, and gene patents. However, the US Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that mere isolation by itself is not sufficient for something to be deemed inventive subject matter.[2]
- ^ Cook-Deegan, Robert. "Gene patents". The Hastings Center. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
- ^ Sheehan, Teige. "The Supreme Court Holds Genes Are Patent-Ineligible Products of Nature" (PDF). Retrieved 20 June 2020.