John Pemberton Patent

Patents. They allow an individual to own their own invention. An inventor is normally thought of as someone in the world of science, but this is not always true. Is John Pemberton, the man who created coca cola not considered an inventor? Inventors are everywhere around us from chemists looking to make the next coca cola to engineers trying to optimize the production of a substance, but what happens if someone were to try and steal another’s invention and take credit for it, that is where a patent comes into play. A patent is defined as “[a] government authority or licence conferring a right or title for a set period, especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention” (Oxford Dictionary). Patenting has …show more content…
In order to receive one, not only must the patent be original, but it also fit under the category of patentable material. While it seems like this should be a rather straightforward process, there is a lot of grey area in which it is possible for one to receive a patent for something they probably shouldn’t. Genetic patents are a good example of this. Over the course of recent history, scientists have been studying DNA, through this, certain genes can be discovered which can lead to complications later on in life such as disease. Many different research companies have managed to obtain legal issued patents on these genes. This means that any person who has this gene within their DNA, whether living or not born yet has a piece of their genetic material owned by a company. The issue is if treatment is needed for a disease that is caused by that gene, the only people who can give consent to work with that gene are the people who own it. This means that they can essentially own a part of their body and in order to get consent to do anything with it, the company can charge a fee. This seems ridiculous as a patent like this should easily be dissolved, not quite the case. In an individual case, a judge can overrule a patent for a single person if they deem it necessary, but in order to completely dissolve a patent in its entirety can be extremely difficult. It took over 20 years to dissolve the patent on these genes and it relied mainly on the power of …show more content…
While patents like the one above are very rare, they do exist. This is why more regulations are put in place in order to receive a patent at this point in time. In order to avoid any possible violations of human rights, patents must undergo a more thorough