DALLAS A patent is a government grant for a "monopoly" of limited duration conferring the right
to exclude others from making, using or selling an invention within a national territory.
While patent laws vary from country to country, an invention is generally patentable if it is novel,
useful, not obvious, and if it fits within statutes defining subject matter categories of protectable
inventions. A considerable amount of controversy in international patent law involves variations,
from country to country, in the definition of patentable subject matter. One such controversial
patentable subject matter area is medical procedures.
Some countries permit patenting of a medical device, but not a procedure involved in using the
medical device. In the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPS),
Section 5, Article 27 defines Patentable Subject Matter. Members of the TRIPS Agreement "may
. . . exclude from patentability . . . diagnostic,
