sonlite. . . I know a little about the patent process, with an emphasis on the little. The patents I have applied for were all mechanical in nature and I am sure that the rules for patenting biological processes would be a lot different than mechanical or design patents. For instance NNLX has claimed to use a Clostridium (IIRC) type of bacteria in one of their patented processes.
Imagine 100 beakers filled with samples of identical bacteria. Each researcher is given ten beakers of a specific specimen to experiment with. That would be the first step in a process of the Hydrogen conversion process. Of the 100 beakers with identical specimens maybe ten of each of the beakers are filled with different types of waste products. Then maybe each of these ten classes of beakers has another ingredient added to each of the them. Then some of the beakers are exposed to different temperatures,pressures, atmospheres, light, darkness etc, etc.
The final results in all of these different processes may be Hydrogen but suppose there were ten researchers who were able to produce Hydrogen with totally different steps in the process. This is where patent laws can get really complicated. Even though each of the ten researchers started at identical places and achieved identical results they may have used a different order in the processes involved and significant variations in methods. There could be several patents issued and they would all be valid. That is why it is so important that all the steps in these types of processes are well documented as to timelines and methods.
Whew! I hope you can understand what I just said, I am more confused than ever. Let me know if and when you figure it out LOL.
GLTY'all,
Dennis
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