The Dilemma of Patenting Scientific Principles: From Theoretical Ideas to Industrial Application

Can a scientist patent gravity? Can a mathematician claim ownership over the Pythagorean theorem? The obvious answer is no – and yet, the boundary between what counts as a patentable invention and what remains an open scientific principle is far more contested than it first appears. This debate is not a modern phenomenon. It stretches back to 19th-century France, when rapid industrialization forced lawmakers, scientists, and industrialists to grapple with exactly the same question. Today, the same tension continues to shape patent law in India and across the world – and understanding it is essential for anyone working at the intersection of science, innovation, and intellectual property.

The discovery vs. invention divide
What the French debate of the 19th century reveals
Sadi Carnot and the limits of thermodynamic theory
Pasteur: where science met commercial application
How Indian patent law draws the line
The three-part test for patentability in India
The industrial utility requirement: the critical bridge
The global framework: TRIPS and international consistency
Why this balance matters for innovation

The discovery vs. invention divide

At the core of the patentability debate lies a fundamental distinction: a discovery reveals something that already exists in nature, while an invention creates something new using human ingenuity. Patent law draws a sharp line between the two. A scientific principle – whether it describes the behaviour of gases, the propagation of electromagnetic waves, or the binding of molecules – exists in nature independently of any scientist. Recognizing and articulating it is an act of discovery, not creation.

This is why WIPO’s framework for patentable subject matter explicitly excludes discoveries, mathematical theories, and abstract scientific principles from protection. Similarly, India’s Patents Act, 1970 defines an “invention” under Section 2(1)(j) as “a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application.” If a claimed subject matter does not cross that threshold into practical application, it stays outside the ambit of patent protection.

What the French debate of the 19th century reveals

The 19th century was a period of extraordinary scientific and industrial transformation in France. Steam engines were reshaping manufacturing, chemistry was advancing rapidly, and scientists were producing discoveries that would underpin entire industries. This environment forced a confrontation between two camps: those who believed every intellectual creation deserved legal protection, and those who argued that fundamental scientific knowledge must remain freely accessible to all.

The French patent system of the time was navigating significant reform. A new patent law was promulgated on July 5, 1844, following more than fifteen years of political debate and legislative negotiation. This law governed French patents until 1968, and its debates around the patentability of scientific ideas set a template that would influence modern IP thinking globally.

Two cases from this era illustrate the dilemma particularly well.

Sadi Carnot and the limits of thermodynamic theory

Sadi Carnot’s work on thermodynamics, which laid the theoretical groundwork for steam engine efficiency, is a canonical example of why scientific principles cannot be patented. His 1824 treatise described the maximum efficiency achievable by any heat engine – what we now call the Carnot cycle. This was a profound theoretical insight. Yet the principle itself – that efficiency depends on the temperature difference between heat source and sink – was a description of nature, not a novel human construction. Historians of science note that Carnot’s theorem was actually stimulated by the practical challenge of adapting British steam engine technology to French industrial conditions – yet the theory itself remained unpatentable. The inventions that applied thermodynamic principles to build more efficient engines, however, were patented extensively.

Pasteur: where science met commercial application

Louis Pasteur’s story is even more instructive because he moved fluidly between pure science and patented application. His germ theory – the principle that microorganisms cause disease and fermentation – was a scientific discovery that belonged to the world. He never attempted to patent the principle itself. But the applications of that principle were a different matter. On 11 April 1865, Pasteur obtained a patent for a process of eliminating contaminating bacteria from wine by heating it at 64°C for 30 minutes – the process we now know as pasteurization. This was not a patent on the principle that heat kills bacteria; it was a patent on a specific, replicable industrial process that solved a concrete commercial problem. Pasteur also filed a patent on beer, which proved highly profitable, while other patents he placed in the public domain without earning any income – reflecting his nuanced view of intellectual property.

The distinction Pasteur navigated instinctively is the same one patent law codifies today: the scientific principle underlying an invention does not become patentable simply because someone is first to recognize it. What becomes patentable is the specific, industrially applicable method or product that the principle enables.

How Indian patent law draws the line

India’s approach to this question is expressed most directly in Section 3(c) of the Patents Act, 1970, which states that the mere discovery of a scientific principle or the formulation of an abstract theory is not an invention within the meaning of the Act. This provision is not a narrow technical exclusion – it is a foundational policy statement about what the patent system is designed to protect.

Alongside Section 3(c), Section 3(a) also excludes inventions that are “obviously contrary to well-established natural laws” – such as a perpetual motion machine that claims energy output without energy input. These provisions function as gatekeepers, ensuring that the patent system does not grant monopolies over basic scientific principles, traditional knowledge, or inventions contrary to public health.

However, the exclusion of scientific principles does not mean that science-based inventions are unpatentable. The key criterion that bridges the gap is industrial applicability. Under Section 2(1)(ac) of the Patents Act, an invention is “capable of industrial application” if it can be made or used in any kind of industry. The Calcutta High Court’s decision in Dimminaco AG vs Controller of Patents (2002) was significant in this regard – it changed how “industrial application” is interpreted under Indian law, broadening the definition of what constitutes a patentable process.

The three-part test for patentability in India

For any invention to qualify for a patent in India, it must satisfy three cumulative criteria, as clarified by the Indian Patents Act and S.S. Rana & Co.’s analysis of the framework:

Novelty: The invention must not have been previously disclosed or used anywhere in the world before the filing date.
Inventive step (non-obviousness): It must involve a technical advancement or economic significance that is not obvious to a person skilled in the relevant field.
Industrial applicability: It must be capable of being made or used in any industry – it cannot remain a purely theoretical proposition.

A scientific principle fails the third criterion almost by definition. It is, in its pure form, theoretical knowledge. Only when it is translated into a process, product, or method that can be manufactured or used industrially does the threshold begin to be met.

The industrial utility requirement: the critical bridge

The evolution of patent law has increasingly focused on demonstrated industrial utility as the bridge between a scientific idea and a patentable right. WIPO’s guidance on patentability emphasizes that an invention must be capable of being used for an industrial or business purpose beyond a mere theoretical phenomenon, and must achieve a beneficial result.

Consider how this works in practice. Newton’s law of universal gravitation is not patentable – it describes a natural phenomenon. But a satellite navigation system that relies on precise gravitational calculations to maintain orbital position involves an inventive step and industrial application. Einstein’s theory of special relativity cannot be owned by anyone – but technologies that apply relativistic corrections to atomic clocks in GPS satellites have been the subject of patents. The reasoning behind excluding abstract ideas from patentability is both practical and philosophical: granting exclusive rights over basic concepts would stifle innovation rather than promote it.

This logic is not merely theoretical. WIPO’s own analysis has found that overly broad patent protections can actually hamper technical development rather than promote it. When fundamental knowledge is locked up by patents, subsequent researchers and innovators cannot build on it freely – a problem sometimes described as the “tragedy of the anticommons.”

The global framework: TRIPS and international consistency

India’s approach is consistent with international norms established under the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, which requires that patents be available for any invention in all fields of technology, provided they are new, involve an inventive step, and are capable of industrial application. The agreement does not mandate that scientific principles be patentable – it simply requires consistency in applying the standard to inventions that do qualify.

The exclusion of discoveries, mathematical theories, and scientific principles from patentable subject matter is a feature of virtually every national patent regime – from the European Patent Convention to the US patent system to India’s own Patents Act. The variation between countries lies not in whether to exclude pure science, but in how precisely to draw the line between an abstract principle and a patentable application of that principle.

Why this balance matters for innovation

The tension between scientific openness and patent protection is not merely an academic debate – it has real consequences for research institutions, startups, and industry in India. By allowing research institutions to patent applications derived from state-financed research, governments seek to accelerate the transformation of scientific discoveries into industrial applications and strengthen ties between universities and industries. India’s growing presence in global patent filings – it has entered the top ten filing countries for the first time in patents, trademarks, and industrial designs – reflects the increasing recognition that patents on practical applications of science drive commercial value and economic growth.

At the same time, keeping scientific principles in the public domain ensures that no single actor can monopolize the foundational knowledge from which all innovation flows. A pharmaceutical company cannot patent the chemical principle that enzymes catalyse reactions; it can patent a specific drug molecule that exploits that principle to target a disease. A technology firm cannot patent the principle of electromagnetic induction; it can patent a specific antenna design that applies it in a novel way. This framework, refined over two centuries from the debates of 19th-century France to the provisions of India’s Patents Act, represents the law’s answer to one of the most enduring questions in intellectual property: who owns the ideas that power innovation?

What do you think? If a scientist discovers an entirely new natural phenomenon with clear and immediate industrial potential, should the law make it easier to patent its first practical application – or does even that risk creating barriers for other innovators building on the same discovery? And given India’s growing role in global patent filings, how should the country calibrate the industrial applicability requirement to encourage both foundational research and commercial development?

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Table of Contents

The discovery vs. invention divide 🔗

What the French debate of the 19th century reveals 🔗

Sadi Carnot and the limits of thermodynamic theory 🔗

Pasteur: where science met commercial application 🔗

How Indian patent law draws the line 🔗

The three-part test for patentability in India 🔗

The industrial utility requirement: the critical bridge 🔗

The global framework: TRIPS and international consistency 🔗

Why this balance matters for innovation 🔗