Legal Definitions - enablement by deposit

Enablement by deposit is a concept in patent law, particularly relevant for inventions involving biological materials like microorganisms, cell lines, or genetic sequences. It refers to the practice where a patent applicant fulfills the requirement to adequately describe their invention by depositing a sample of the biological material in a recognized public repository. This deposit ensures that, even if the invention cannot be fully described in words or drawings, others skilled in the field can access and reproduce the invention once the patent is granted, thereby "enabling" them to practice it.

Here are some examples:

• Imagine a biotechnology company develops a novel strain of bacteria capable of consuming plastic waste. Describing every single genetic modification and metabolic pathway in the patent application would be incredibly complex and potentially insufficient for someone else to recreate the bacteria from scratch. To meet the enablement requirement, the company deposits a sample of this unique bacterial strain with an internationally recognized biological material depository. This deposit allows anyone skilled in microbiology to obtain the bacteria and understand how to make and use the invention once the patent is granted, thus fulfilling the "enablement" requirement.

• Consider a food science researcher who isolates a previously unknown strain of wild yeast that produces a unique sourdough flavor profile when used in bread making. To patent this new yeast strain, the researcher cannot simply describe its characteristics in words alone. The specific genetic makeup and metabolic properties that give it its unique flavor are too complex to fully capture in a written description. By depositing a sample of the yeast with a public culture collection, the researcher ensures that the invention is "enabled"—meaning others can access, study, and utilize the yeast once the patent is issued, allowing them to practice the invention.

• A pharmaceutical company engineers a new human cell line that is highly effective for testing the toxicity of new drug compounds. The precise genetic modifications and growth conditions that make this cell line unique and useful might be extremely difficult to describe exhaustively in a patent document. To meet the enablement requirement, the company deposits a sample of this engineered cell line into a designated biological depository. This action makes the invention accessible and reproducible by other scientists and researchers, ensuring they can "make and use" the invention as described in the patent.