Can a natural product be patented?

The laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable. For example, a new mineral discovered in the earth or a new plant found in the wild is not patentable subject matter. Likewise, neither Einstein's theory of relativity nor the law of gravity are patentable subject matter, as both are laws of nature. The rationale for denying patent protection to a law of nature, for example the law of gravity, is two-fold. First, there is no human inventiveness that makes the law of gravity work, it simply does. Second, because the law of gravity is a manifestation of nature's handiwork, it must be free for all people to use. A patent on the law of gravity would reserve it exclusively to the patent owner, thereby requiring all of us who use the law of gravity every day to either get the patent owner's permission to do so, or else risk being accused of patent infringement.

As for products of nature, for example vitamins and minerals, these products are also unpatentable in their naturally occurring state. If, however, a product of nature is new, useful, and nonobvious, and has somehow been altered by humans, it may then be patentable. For example, if you start with a vitamin as it occurs in nature, add some type of human intervention (e.g., purification, concentration, combination or isolation), and end with a different form of that vitamin that does not occur in nature, then that new form may be patentable.

Medical research acknowledges that eight glyconutrient sugars are needed at the cellular level for optimum immune system function. Considering that six of these glyconutrients are often lacking in modern diets, Mannatech sought new and better sources of the nutrients. The effort culminated in the Ambrotose complex. Twenty patents – including one from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office – have been issued to Mannatech for technology related to the Ambrotose complex.