Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co. - 333 U.S. 127, 68 S. Ct. 440 (1948)

Rule:

Patents cannot issue for the discovery of the phenomena of nature.

Facts:

Respondent brought a patent infringement claim against petitioner. The infringement claim was limited to respondent's claim that he provided a mixed culture of Rhizobia capable of inoculating the seeds of plants belonging to several cross-inoculation groups. Petitioner filed a counterclaim asking that the entire patent be adjudged invalid. The district court held the product claims invalid for want of invention and dismissed the complaint. It also dismissed the counterclaim. Both parties appealed. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the product claims were valid and infringed and that the counterclaim should not have been dismissed. Certiorari was granted. 

Issue:

Were the product claims valid and infringed? 

Answer:

No.

Conclusion:

The United States Supreme Court reversed and found the patent invalid. Respondent's discovery that certain strains of each species of the bacteria involved could be mixed without harmful effect to the properties of either was a discovery of their qualities of noninhibition. It was not patentable because it was no more than a discovery of the laws of nature. Respondent's discoveries did not make the bacteria perform in any other way than their natural way. Respondent's combination of the bacteria was new and useful but lacked the requirements of invention or discovery. Once nature's secret of the noninhibitive quality of certain strains of the species of Rhizobium was discovered, the state of the art made respondent's production of a mixed inoculant a simple step.