Selection Patents

A selection patent is a patent granted for a particularly advantageous subset of a larger group of otherwise known entities.

For example, where a new class of chemical compound is discovered, a patent application may be filed for the class (referred to as the genus patent). Later, if it is discovered that a subset or selection of these chemical compounds shows unexpected suitability for a particular application, a second patent application may be filed claiming the selection and disclosing the previously unknown and unexpected characteristic. A selection patent therefore selects a subset of a previously known group of entities and distinguishes them based on a previously unknown property that is (more or less) unique to that subset.