What Can Be Patented?

Confronting the Confusion in Patent Law


About Patent Eligible Subject Matter

Kelvin W. Willoughby
Professor, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

Scholars’ Press, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2014. ISBN: 978-3-639-70068-8

Patents play a critical role in business, society and technological

innovation in the contemporary knowledge economy. The question
of what types of inventions may be patented, however, has
become highly contentious in patent offices, law courts,
legislatures, scientific organizations, international trade forums
and various business or social advocacy groups around the world.
Under what conditions—if any—may computer software, DNA-
based products, new business techniques, medical diagnostic
methods, or systems operating over the Internet, for example, be
patented? Conflict and confusion in the law surrounding these
questions has created destructive uncertainty amongst
technologists, entrepreneurs, investors, medical practitioners,
community groups and policy makers. This book tackles the
problem through a comparative study of statutory law and case
law in the United States and Europe, as well as international law,
concerned with what subject matter is patent eligible. In particular
the book explores whether only technical inventions should be
eligible for patent protection and, if so, whether those inventions
must be physical in order to qualify as “technology” in patent law.

What Can Be Patented?

Confronting the Confusion in Patent Law About Patent Eligible Subject Matter

May be purchased online from the publisher at:

https://www.scholars-press.com/catalog/details//store/gb/book/978-3-639-70068-8/what-can-be-patented