Book matches were patented by an American inventor in 1892.
Pharmaceutical companies are calling on the government to protect their patent on prescription drugs for a minimum of 10 years.
The man who invented the artificial heart donated the patent for it to the University of
Utah.
In 1988, geneticists at Harvard University were granted the first U.S. patent for an animal - a genetically-engineered mouse that is highly susceptible to breast cancer.
The government of Canada does not currently allow for the patenting of any living animal.
His invention owes
a great deal to a patent registered in Poland 20 years previously.
Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876.
The world's first patent was granted in Italy in 1421 to a man who made a barge crane to transport marble.
In 1784, James Watt patented the modern
steam engine for practical commercial use.
Marie and Pierre Curie refused to patent their process of making radium, declaring it belonged to the world.
In 1899, the director of the U.S. Patent Office declared that everything that could be invented had already been invented.
Thomas Edison holds the U.S. record for the greatest number of patented inventions, at 1,093.
On being asked who owned the patent on his antipolio vaccine, Jonas Salk responded, "The people. Could you patent the sun?"
The first automobile was created in January 1886, when Carl Benz patented a tricycle with a one-cylinder engine.
Discussion question: Should private companies be able to patent a living creature, such as the genetically-engineered mouse at Harvard?