Similarly, I think the point to item (6) is that you cannot patent the *substance *that is "produced by nuclear transformation". I think the reason for this statement appears right in the paragraph Jed quoted: in general, you *can *patent "new compositions of matter", e.g. a new plastic, etc. Their law makes an exception for "substances produced by nuclear transformation" in order to prevent someone from patenting element 129, for example, or for that matter any isotope.
In either case, you can in general patent both the machine that produced the substance and a particular process for producing it. So if, for example, Godes has a machine that produces heat and also produces economically valuable elements by "nuclear transformation" e.g. transmutation, he can patent both the machine and the specific process it uses. The latter patent would cover alternative machine implementations that use the same underlying process. Of course defining "the same underlying process" is a going to be a horrendous mess if the results are economically valuable, which is why there are courts and judges and case law and highly paid patent attorneys. IANAL but I think these interpretations are right, more or less. Jeff On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 7:11 AM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > John Newman <[email protected]> wrote: > > Also re item (2), a friend of mine said, over 50 years ago now, that you >> can’t patent a law of nature, otherwise you’d have to pay royalties to the >> estate of Sir Isaac Newton every time an apple fell on your head. >> > > Sir Isaac's patent would have expired by now. > > Anyway, you are right. That is what item 2 means. A "force of nature" is > how it is sometimes referred to. > > David French explained: > > > "Turning now to issues of patenting as they relate to > Cold Fusion, a first misconception needs to be clarified. > Patents must address products, processes or new > compositions of matter. No patent is going to issue for > the person who finally provides the correct theory that > explains the source of the Cold Fusion effect. That is > properly the subject for a Nobel Prize. Patents relate > to products, articles, machines, or chemicals that are to > be delivered to consumers or can be used by > producers. . . ." > > > - Jed > >
