[permaculture] public domain...patentable???

Dieter Brand diebrand at yahoo.com
Tue Jan 22 04:16:58 EST 2008


> Is it actually possible to take what would seem to be in 
> the public domain and actually patent it...

  No, of course not.  You may be able to patent an improvement
  if you can prove "novelty", ie., sufficient "inventive step" over the
  "prior art", and if your invention has not been made public prior
  to its filing with the patent office.
   
  I'm not really familiar with plant patents, but I think, like
  with the patenting of gene sequences, the USPO (US Patent
  Office) is the most bullish (what else), the EP (European Patent
  Office) is trying to put on the breaks (as to be expected) 
  and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) is diplomatically
  situated somewhere therein-between.
   
  Dieter Brand
  Portugal
  
mangodance <bmn at iglou.com> wrote:
  The discussion of patents and heirlooms is puzzling and I'm trying to 
gain clarity. Is it actually possible to take what would seem to be in 
the public domain and actually patent it...such as an heirloom variety???
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