Mancini Moon Rover Case Study

In favor of Mancini Moon Rover, I believe that LunarEx should not be granted the patent on “all lunar minerals containing the Helium-3 isotope” because LunarEx did not create anything new from the Helium-3 isotope as of the time they requested the patent. In order for something to be patentable, the invention or improvement must be new, useful, and non-obvious. LunarEx’s request to solely patent the Helium-3 lunar isotope does not meet all of the these requirements. The United States patent law gives rights to the inventor of a process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter as long as that invention is new, useful, and non-obvious. Patents are also meant to encourage innovation and creativity in society. I am going to base

Chakrabarty, Chakrabarty invented a living plasma that had the ability to clean up oil spills. Chakrabarty was originally declined the patent because at the time, living things were not patentable subject matter. Chakrabarty was eventually granted the patent because a live, human-made micro-organism is subject to patentability as long as the micro-organism was manufactured or invented. In the Myriad Genetics case, the court held that the creation of a new product in a lab exempts that product from being a product of nature; therefore, they are patent eligible. These cases ruled that some life forms are patent eligible if it involved active hands-on intervention. In regards to whether or not lunar minerals containing the Helium-3 isotope should be patent eligible, LunarEx should not be granted a patent because they did not create anything new. They simply found the minerals on the moon and requested that they have the patent for it because they do not want another American company to have the right to use the

If LunarEx had the patent for the mineral, other companies would pay to use Helium-3 in order to improve its uses. By continuously improving the uses of Helium-3, one may find a way to create a synthetic version that would be easily attainable on Earth, which would in fact foster innovation. However, some fail to realize that the isotope is not patent eligible and will not be easily attainable for many people who wish to improve Helium-3. And if that was the case, companies would want to improve the cold fusion generator, not the actual isotope. LunarEx spent millions of dollars on a vehicle that would allow them to go to the moon and retrieve Helium-3. The average American company would not be able to easily afford such a vehicle and would have to spend a lot of time obtaining millions of dollars. Also by patenting Helium-3 from the moon, LunarEx is cutting off an abundant source from the rest of the world; therefore, inhibiting innovation, which goes against the purpose of patents. However, I believe that LunarEx would have been eligible for a patent if they requested a patent for a cold fusion generator and the process of combining Helium-3 with Deuterium. In that case, it would be something new, useful, and