This chapter describes contemporary patentable subject matter as a form of technical knowledge. The chapter considers whether technical knowledge is a thing that can be owned (the metaphysical question).

This chapter begins by outlining the dematerialisation of subject matter that has occurred over the last two decades or so and the problems that this has created for the law. I then explain the aims of the book, namely to look at three situations where patent law has already dealt with a dematerialised subject matter and the role that science and technology played in helping the law to accommodate that subject matter. I end by explaining the particular way that I approach subject matter in the book.

As the use of AI grows ever more prevalent and sophisticated, the issuesof the patentability of AI will need be addressed by the US Congress, USPTO, and the courts. While the questions raised with respect to patenting AI have been debated and are now being considered more broadly, few have been definitively answered. Early address and resolution of these issues will allow patent law to keep pace with the new tide of AI-related technologies and inventions.

Chapter 4 analyzes the doctrine of patentable subject matter. Delving into American, European, and Japanese patent jurisprudence, it first describes how these legal systems handle software-related inventions in general. Next, it applies that jurisprudence to 3D printable files to demonstrate why only one of the three 3D printing file formats is likely to constitute patentable subject matter. More intriguingly, it turns out that this file format is of least interest to would-be patent holders. In other words, a patent protection gap exists. Chapter 4 also analyzes jurisdictions’ differential treatment of patent claims directed to electronic signals. The Japanese and European patent systems consider these claims to be patentable subject matter, whereas the U.S. system does not. The upshot is that patent protection for software and 3D printable files is weaker in the United States because most 3D printable files are sold as internet signal transmissions. I argue that the United States should provide protection for signal claims.