Last updated: August 17, 2026

What Is Not Patentable?

The patent law specifies that the subject matter must be “useful.” The term “useful” in this connection refers to the condition that the subject matter has a useful purpose and is operative. A machine that does not work as intended would not be called useful and would not be granted a patent.

Interpretations of the statute by the courts have defined the limits of the field of subject matter that can be patented. Thus, it has been held that the laws of nature, physical phenomena, and abstract ideas are typically not patentable subject matter.

If a subject matter, such as software, business methods, or AI-based inventions, does happen to fall under those categories, they would then be measured by the second step established by the Supreme Court’s ruling on Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories (2012) and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International (2014). A substantial improvement must be seen in the model or technology itself, not simply improving instructions on how to apply an idea. For example, prompting an AI to give better results would not be patentable, but improving the AI’s model would.

A patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or suggestion. The patent is granted upon the new machine, manufacture, etc. and requires a complete and detailed description of the actual machine or other subject matter. For written description requirements, see Patent Written Description.

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