DIAMOND, COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS
v.
CHAKRABARTY.
Supreme Court of United States.https://leagle.com/images/logo.png
Argued March 17, 1980.
Decided June 16, 1980.
Attorney(s) appearing for the Case
Deputy Solicitor General Wallace argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the brief were Solicitor General McCree, Assistant Attorney General Shenefield, Harriet S. Shapiro, Robert B. Nicholson, Frederic Freilicher, and Joseph F. Nakamura.
Edward F. McKie, Jr., argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Leo I. MaLossi, William E. Schuyler, Jr., and Dale H. Hoscheit.*
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed by George W. Whitney, Bruce M. Collins, and Karl F. Jorda for the American Patent Law Association, Inc.; by Thomas D. Kiley for Genentech, Inc.; by Jerome G. Lee, William F. Dudine, Jr., and Paul H. Heller for the New York Patent Law Association, Inc.; by Peter R. Taft, Joseph A. Keyes, Jr., and Sheldon Elloit Steinbach for Dr. Leroy E. Hood et al.; and by Lorance L. Greenlee for Dr. George Pieczenik.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed by William I. Althen for the American Society for Microbiology; by Donald R. Dunner for the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association; by Edward S. Irons, Mary Helen Sears, and Donald Reidhaar for the Regents of the University of California; and by Cornell D. Cornish, pro se.
Supreme Court of United States.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER delivered the opinion of the Court.
We granted certiorari to determine whether a live, human-made micro-organism is patentable subject matter under 35 U. S. C. § 101.
I
In 1972, respondent Chakrabarty, a microbiologist, filed a patent application, assigned to the General Electric Co. The application asserted 36 claims related to Chakrabarty's invention of "a bacterium from the...
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