Is the Subject Matter of Your Invention Eligible for Patenting?

The cornerstones of patentability are novelty, utility, and nonobviousness. A fourth requirement, however, and one that inventors and patent holders face with increasing frequency, is subject matter eligibility. As a matter of public policy, inventions that are essentially laws of nature, natural ph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChemical engineering progress Vol. 112; no. 12; p. 29
Main Author Heines, M Henry
Format Magazine Article Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York American Institute of Chemical Engineers 01.12.2016
Subjects
Chemical engineering
Data processing
Electric power
Electric power grids
Electricity distribution
Federal court decisions
Inventions
Inventors
Monitoring
Public policy
Sensors
Trials
Utilities
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Summary:The cornerstones of patentability are novelty, utility, and nonobviousness. A fourth requirement, however, and one that inventors and patent holders face with increasing frequency, is subject matter eligibility. As a matter of public policy, inventions that are essentially laws of nature, natural phenomena, or abstract ideas are ineligible for patenting, regardless of their uniqueness or value. These types of subject matter are considered by patent courts to be fundamental to life, and patenting them would preempt their use on too broad a scale. It is not always easy, however, to distinguish between inventions that embody one of these subject matters and those that do not. Electric Power Group, LLC, obtained three patents on a system for monitoring real-time performance of an electric power grid.
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ISSN:0360-7275
1945-0710