(1) scientific discoveries;
(2) rules and methods of intellectual activities;
(3) Methods of diagnosis and treatment of diseases;
(4) Species of animals and plants;
(5) substances obtained by nuclear transformation;
(six) the design of the pattern, color or the combination of the two.
Madame Curie discovered radium, which belongs to the category of scientific discovery, so she can't get a patent right, but the purification equipment and process of radium can get a patent right.
Scientific discovery refers to the revelation of objectively existing substances, phenomena, changes, processes, characteristics and laws in nature.
It is a common practice all over the world not to grant the patent right for scientific discovery. Because a scientific discovery may lead to a series of inventions, if the discovery is monopolized, it will hinder the road of scientific and technological progress, so the patent right is not granted. In addition, discovery in the broadest sense is an abstract concept and cannot directly lead to industrial activities. It does not directly design or manufacture something unprecedented. It only belongs to the extension of people's understanding, which is different from the technical scheme of transforming the objective world and does not belong to the invention in the sense of patent law.
Scientific discovery is often the basis of invention. For example, it is found that silver halide has photosensitive properties under illumination, and this discovery cannot be patented, but the photosensitive film manufactured according to this discovery and the manufacturing method of this photosensitive film can be patented.