Lawyers who worked in chemical and medical patents confirmed this for me when I was in Google Legal. Don't even get me started about software patents. The lega

Lawyers who worked in chemical and medical patents confirmed this for me when I was in Google Legal. Don't even get me started about software patents. The legal fiction is that a "reasonable amount of experimentation" may be required, beyond what's in the patent. The notion is that a lab tech determines the exact concentrations, temps, and pressure to get the thing to work. Of course this is abused.