11. Patents I: Justifications, Registration, Patentable Subject Matter, and Industrial Application

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter begins with an overview of the history of UK patent law. It then discusses: justifications in support of patent rights; sources of patent law; obtaining a patent; patentable subject matter; exclusions from patentability relevant to biotechnological inventions (e.g. plant and animal varieties and non-microbiological processes for their production; software and business methods; and inventions that are contrary to ordre public or morality); industrial application requirements for patentability; and methods of medical and veterinary treatment.