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TheodoreSmith-FirstPaper 4 - 25 Oct 2008 - Main.TheodoreSmith
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THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS
| | | Placing Organic Chemical Compounds in the Public Domain
-- By TheodoreSmith - 18 Oct 2008 | | | Once this threshold is reached, new organic chemical compounds will become far easier to push into the public domain. Even if such novel compositions are not ruled to be generally unpatentable under the doctrine of obviousness, they will be vulnerable to being placed into the public domain by any individual publishing a sufficiently detailed map of the molecules structure and a simple set of instructions enabling construction of the molecule. The low cost of publishing over the internet paired with the plausibility of algorithmic methods of generating molecular permutations and enablement steps almost guarantee the eventual construction of a database of molecular permutations. This database, showing structure and enablement steps for a wide swath of potential organic compounds, would have the effect of rendering unpatentable every compound appearing within. | |
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> | Advances in the atomic level manipulation of matter have brought modern science to within striking distance of the ability to manually construct novel molecules from their constituent components. In a XXDATEXX paper, XXAUTHORSXX detail the ways in which technicians may manipulate a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to sever and reform atomic bonds, reposition atoms, and manipulate molecular structures to form novel organic molecules. Although this technology is still in its infancy, the manual construction of molecular compounds is undeniably possible, and one day may become trivial with further advances in equipment and scientific technique. In the last XXX years, the state of the art in atomic manipulation has moved from the painstaking repositioning of Xenon molecules, to the _; it is merely a matter of time before the construction of complex molecular compounds becomes scientific reality. Once techniques for systematically fabricating chemical compounds enter the scientific mainstream, the enablement of any sufficiently well described molecule becomes trivial (or at least may be rendered trivial by the development of a computer algorithm capable of generating enablement steps from chemical diagrams). Once this point is reached, any novel compound could be placed in the public domain simply through public online publication of its chemical structure and build routine; an extensive database of permutations of chemical forms would provide a legal basis on which to invalidate new compound patents.
Other forms of Patent Protection
A database of structures and build routines would have the effect of placing many future compound patents into the public domain. Instructions enabling the individual construction of organic molecules could also be argued to invalidate future “purification” patents on molecules within the database; enabling the construction of an individual molecule would have the effect of enabling (very small-scale) production of purified forms of the compound, and would prevent corporations from later claiming that they had newly purified extant substances.
The type of enablement database described in this essay would have no effect on two alternative forms of patent protection: the use patent, and the production patent. The use patent provides exclusive rights over a particular use of a compound, regardless of the legal ownership of compound itself. A corporation asserting that it had discovered a new use of a molecule in the database would have the ability to apply for a use patent governing the right to use that particular molecule for that particular purpose. Although use rights are far more limited and difficult to enforce than patents on the compound itself, there is nothing fundamentally ???????? | | | | |
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< | Use Patents and Usefulness | >
> | The enablement database would likewise have no effect on production patents – methods of synthesizing or otherwise producing the molecule. Although the particular production steps in the atomic level build routine would be in the public domain, commercially viable methods of manufacturing the molecule would be available for patent protection. | | | | |
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> | Neither of these alternate forms of patent protection would be diminished or eliminated by the existence of a public enablement database; however, a public alternative | | | | |
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< | Technical Issues to be Overcome | >
> | Technical and Legal Issues to be Overcome
Many permutations of chemical compounds – could we have in a database, or would an algorithm suffice – mixed so that requesting a molecule would create a permanent entry in a database.
Corporations forming their own databases to gain rights (the one case that does not require uses), BUT look at statutory bars and diligence.
Alternately, this may allow purification patenting by corporations, and the fact that the use requirement is set so low may lead to a rush of corporate patents before compounds enter the public domain. They would be potentially be able to patent more stuff, but it would be the final rush – 21 years, and all such compounds would be in the public domain. | | |
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> | An economic or moral analysis of this change is beyond the scope of this paper. Chemical compounds have two important characteristics that make them vulnerable to advances: They have a concrete and definite structure – it is more difficult to write an amorphous business method or algorithm style claim to escape the restrictions of prior art, and they are finite in potential size – NEED DATA. |
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TheodoreSmith-FirstPaper 3 - 23 Oct 2008 - Main.TheodoreSmith
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< | Placing Chemical Compounds in the Public Domain | >
> | Placing Organic Chemical Compounds in the Public Domain | | | -- By TheodoreSmith - 18 Oct 2008 | | | Introduction | |
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< | Chemical compounds are protected under US patent law as "compositions of matter." . Although an inventor seeking a compound patent must show a use for the claimed composition, the same patent may ordinarily be defeated by prior art showing only the structure and a means of successfully building or synthesizing the chemical; no showing of usefulness is required. | >
> | Chemical compounds are protected under US patent law as "compositions of matter." < cite needed >. A successful compound patent will provide the inventor with exclusive rights to all uses of that composition (including research) over the life of the patent. Although an inventor seeking a compound patent must show a use for the claimed composition, the same patent may ordinarily be defeated by prior art showing only the structure of the molecule and "enablement", a means of successfully building or synthesizing the chemical; no showing of usefulness is required. As advances in the material sciences refine techniques for the atomic level manipulation of matter, we are rapidly nearing the point where enablement of a given organic compound becomes trivial; any organic molecule may be constructed from its constituent atoms or pre-synthesized building blocks.
Once this threshold is reached, new organic chemical compounds will become far easier to push into the public domain. Even if such novel compositions are not ruled to be generally unpatentable under the doctrine of obviousness, they will be vulnerable to being placed into the public domain by any individual publishing a sufficiently detailed map of the molecules structure and a simple set of instructions enabling construction of the molecule. The low cost of publishing over the internet paired with the plausibility of algorithmic methods of generating molecular permutations and enablement steps almost guarantee the eventual construction of a database of molecular permutations. This database, showing structure and enablement steps for a wide swath of potential organic compounds, would have the effect of rendering unpatentable every compound appearing within. | | | Enablement and Scanning Electron Microscopes |
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TheodoreSmith-FirstPaper 2 - 23 Oct 2008 - Main.TheodoreSmith
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Placing Chemical Compounds in the Public Domain | | | Introduction | |
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> | Chemical compounds are protected under US patent law as "compositions of matter." . Although an inventor seeking a compound patent must show a use for the claimed composition, the same patent may ordinarily be defeated by prior art showing only the structure and a means of successfully building or synthesizing the chemical; no showing of usefulness is required. | | | Enablement and Scanning Electron Microscopes |
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