<p>You can patent a new material that you claim have non-trivial and useful properties. But that does not cover existing objects made out of it: patents cover expressed ideas, not existing things. In many jurisdictions like Australia it also requires that the thing is manufacturable: if the composition cannot be made on Earth, then it isn't patentable.</p>

<p>There is a bit of similarity here with Myriad Genetic's controversial patent on detecting alleles of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes to predict/diagnose breast cancer, which informally was said to be a patent for the gene itself. Every human has those genes, but the patent did not imply Myriad owned them.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-01T10:03:13.397Z
Also maths poses similar dilemma.
Alchimista
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-31T22:16:39.367Z
2020-01-31T22:16:39.367Z
Anders Sandberg
<p>According to <a href="https://www.legalzoom.com/knowledge/patent/topic/what-is-patentable" rel="nofollow noreferrer">legalzoom</a> A new composition discovered can be patented, if I was to discover a planet with a new composition, would I be able to patent that planet and its compositions?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-31T15:07:00.447Z
Did you read the full sentence? It says "new and useful ... composition of matter", which is true for material science on Earth, not for minerals in space, for which no law has been established.
AtmosphericPrisonEscape
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-31T15:09:19.553Z
Really seems more like a question for Law stack exchange, or Worldbuildinf Stack Exchange. I'd lean towards the answer being no, unless you're pulling a Dabney Donovan and building a Transilvane in your basement.
notovny
<observational-astronomy>
If I discovered a planet that has compositions not known to man and that no one else had previously discovered can I apply a patent for it?
user31640
# If I discovered a planet that has compositions not known to man and that no one else had previously discovered can I apply a patent for it?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-01-31)

According to [legalzoom](https://www.legalzoom.com/knowledge/patent/topic/what-is-patentable) A new composition discovered can be patented, if I was to discover a planet with a new composition, would I be able to patent that planet and its compositions?

**Tags:** observational-astronomy

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Did you read the full sentence? It says "new and useful ... composition of matter", which is true for material science on Earth, not for minerals in space, for which no law has been established.  
> **username_2**: Really seems more like a question for Law stack exchange, or Worldbuildinf Stack Exchange. I'd lean towards the answer being no, unless you're pulling a Dabney Donovan and building a Transilvane in your basement.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-01-31. Score: 4

You can patent a new material that you claim have non-trivial and useful properties. But that does not cover existing objects made out of it: patents cover expressed ideas, not existing things. In many jurisdictions like Australia it also requires that the thing is manufacturable: if the composition cannot be made on Earth, then it isn't patentable.

There is a bit of similarity here with Myriad Genetic's controversial patent on detecting alleles of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes to predict/diagnose breast cancer, which informally was said to be a patent for the gene itself. Every human has those genes, but the patent did not imply Myriad owned them.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Also maths poses similar dilemma.  

---

