adjective
- not able to be protected by a patent; not meeting the legal requirements for patent protection
Usage: legal; intellectual property
Examples
- Natural phenomena are generally unpatentable under current law.
- The court ruled that the abstract mathematical formula was unpatentable.
- Many software algorithms remain unpatentable in certain jurisdictions.
- The invention was deemed unpatentable due to prior art.
- Basic scientific principles are considered unpatentable discoveries.
- The patent office rejected the application, calling it unpatentable.