4 ms·

You don't patent the molecule. You patent the method of synthesis or extraction, and you patent the method for treating a human disease or ailment. If you dis

You don't patent the molecule. You patent the method of synthesis or extraction, and you patent the method for treating a human disease or ailment. If you discovered a novel use for acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), you could patent that. You are not re-patenting aspirin. It can still be used as an analgesic. If you discovered a novel process to produce ethanol, you could patent that. You are not re-patenting alcohol. People could still use the traditional fermentation and distillation process. You could even patent a process step to remove the remaining water from azeotropic distilled alcohol. Obviously, such patents are more monetizable if the molecule in question is expensive to produce by the public domain processes, has no other commonly known uses, or is a controlled substance.

hmahncke 10y ago
There are composition of matter patents that allow you to patent a novel molecule: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_matter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_matter
- logfromblammo 10y ago
  That's perfectly in line with patenting inventions, but not discoveries, and implementations, but not ideas. So in order for me to accept a patent on a molecule, it would have to be found nowhere else in nature or in prior art, and the applicant must have synthesized a measurable quantity of it. In practice, this means patentable molecules have to be rather complex, because there are a ridiculous number of compounds that have been created once, for someone's dissertation, or to create catalog entries for boiling points, freezing points, dissociation constants, and such, and then never looked at again. Quite a lot of "new" drugs were actually first described decades ago and then shelved. There are just too many possibilities in organic chemistry to examine each in detail without a specific application already in mind.

hmahncke 10y ago

There are composition of matter patents that allow you to patent a novel molecule: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_matter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_matter

logfromblammo 10y ago
That's perfectly in line with patenting inventions, but not discoveries, and implementations, but not ideas. So in order for me to accept a patent on a molecule, it would have to be found nowhere else in nature or in prior art, and the applicant must have synthesized a measurable quantity of it. In practice, this means patentable molecules have to be rather complex, because there are a ridiculous number of compounds that have been created once, for someone's dissertation, or to create catalog entries for boiling points, freezing points, dissociation constants, and such, and then never looked at again. Quite a lot of "new" drugs were actually first described decades ago and then shelved. There are just too many possibilities in organic chemistry to examine each in detail without a specific application already in mind.