Statutory Subject Matter of the Utility Requirement

The first door which must be opened on the difficult path to patentability is the utility requirement.3 The utility requirement in U.S. patent law traces its origins to the Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which states To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries (emphasis added). The utility requirement has been legislatively codified in 35 USC 101  

Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title (emphasis added). 

There are two basic components to the utility requirement as included in 101. The first concerns itself with statutory subject matter, meaning the types of inventions or discoveries that are patentable, which are limited to a process, machine, manufacture 

2 The written description, enablement and best mode requirements all fall under the first paragraph of the 

A method for detecting a deficiency of cobalamin or folate in warm-blooded animals comprising the steps of  

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