Trademark Resources

What Generally Can’t You Patent?

  Now let’s look at things that, generally speaking, you cannot patent. These include merely changing an existing product’s size, form, or shape. Inventions where you’ve merely added on some parts or taken some parts away from someone else’s product are not considered unique, either.

  Along with trying to blatantly steal other people’s ideas, you’re not allowed to patent abstract ideas, physical phenomena, and the laws of nature. All literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works should be protected by copyright laws, so you can’t try to patent those either. And, just in case you were getting any ideas, you can’t get a patent for a product that is against the laws of nature or whose only use is illegal in nature.

China Trademark & Patent Law Office Limited (CTPLO)