Since President George Washington pushed for the passage of the first US Patent Act in 1789, the US patent system reflects the pioneering spirit of the founding fathers. Professor Jay Thomas of Georgetown University confirms that the case law of the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit has established that virtually any subject matter is potentially patentable.
The European tradition, on the other hand, is to allow patents for technology advances, in that they encourage research and development as a driving force for technology.
Patentable inventions are required to be novel, non-obvious and useful. Ideas per se are not patentable, nor are scientific discoveries or mathematical theorems.
In the US, methods for treatment of human beings are considered patentable. In Europe, Israel and many other places, methods of treatment are not considered patentable subject matter, on moral grounds and to protect doctors and patients. Nevertheless, there is clearly a need to protect the interest of companies investing large sums of money in drug research, and the compromise position has been to allow “Swiss Type” or “Use” claims for use of an active ingredient in a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of…”
Patents no trivial ideas are an attack on freedom, IF they are used to sue people, business in court. Suppose I could patent how to eat with a fork and a knife, namely one in both hands.
To get a patent, the trivial idea still has to describe something ueful, new and non-obvious.
The novelty aspect is absolute. If something exists it cannot be patented. Obviousness is a big subject.
Anyway, how one holds a knife and fork lacks industrial applicability and is probably non-patentable in most jurisdictions, even if a new way is invented.
Michael