Patentability biological subject matter

Under the general provisions of novelty, non-obviousness and utility/technical applicability the following examples of biological subject matter with biomedicinal applications may be considered as patentable. For products which also occur in nature, this applies to a form which is isolated from nature or changed from how they exist in nature. See also Table 9 for country-specific exclusions. 

The initial decision—often called the VICOM decision after the applicant for the patent—was followed by further decisions of the Boards of Appeal that opened the way for the patenting of inventions implemented by means of computers. The reasoning behind these decisions has often been adopted by courts in other countries (not only in Europe, but elsewhere). The German Supreme Court, for example, has explicitly stated that the application of computers in chemistry or biology is acceptable patentable subject matter [14]. 

Definitions like those quoted above for patentable inventions in the EPC, which are mainly based on exclusions, always appear somewhat unsatisfactory. A list of examples for principally patentable subject matters in the field of biological or biotechnological medicines may provide a more positive orientation (see Table 8). It should be noted that until recently numerous countries still excluded many of these inventions. 

---