This is the class for living multicellular organisms (nonhuman animals and plants) and separated or severed parts thereof that have not undergone any modification or treatment subsequent to their separation. These organisms or parts thereof may be genetically modified. This class also includes processes of producing said multicellular organisms and of using said organisms (nonhuman animals) in testing and protein production processes.
This class provides for the following products:
1. Living multicellular organisms, i.e., plants and nonhuman animals. Plants include multicellular algae, multicellular fungi, and higher and lower multicellular plant life.
2. Living multicellular organisms and living products: (a) derived from traditional or conventional breeding techniques; (b) derived from grafting processes; (c) derived from tissue culture techniques; and/or (d) derived from techniques which change the genetic makeup or affect the progeny of multicellular organisms.
(1) Note. Examples of traditional or conventional breeding techniques used in plants are self-pollination, inbreeding, cross-pollination, hybridization, selection, emasculation, cytoplasmic male sterility, etc.
(2) Note. Techniques which change the genetic makeup or
affect progeny of multicellular organisms include genetic manipulations such as mutagenesis, protoplast cell fusion, and recombinant or transgenic processes.
(3) Note. Examples of tissue culture techniques used in plants are embryogenesis, organogenesis, etc.
3. Separated or severed parts of multicellular plants and transgenic nonhuman animals which have not been modified or treated subsequent to their separation. (1) Note. Embryos, plantlets, flowers, leaves, seeds, differentiated tissue (i.e., specific organs), buds, meristems, shoots, roots, tubers, fruits, stems, cuttings, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, pollen, mycelium, spores, ascocarps, and sclerotia are considered unmodified plant parts for purposes of this class.
(2) Note. This class includes products obtained by modifications of multicellular living organisms and separated or severed parts thereof wherein the organism or part thereof is permanently changed (i.e., by genetic manipulation, by mutation, by cell fusion, or by tissue culture) so that subsequent progeny or offspring are likewise affected. This class also includes products obtained by modifications of multicellular living organisms and separated or severed parts thereof wherein the organism is permanently changed (i.e., by grafting) so that unique features or properties are conferred to the organism but its offspring are not affected, i.e., genetic lineage is not altered.
(3) Note. This class does not include modifications of multicellular living organisms and separated or severed parts thereof wherein the organism or product or part thereof is temporarily changed or treated by processes such as coating, impregnating, dyeing, bleaching, preserving, adhesive bonding, coloring, pitting, adding artificial limbs or grafting arteries, etc., i.e., subsequent genetic makeup and/or progeny of the organism will not be affected or changed and the organism and parts thereof will still retain its general structure and appearance.
(4) Note. A genetic modification encompasses any process of modification or alteration of the genes of an organism which will subsequently be passed on to its progeny (e.g., spontaneous and induced mutagenesis; normal cross-breeding and hybridization; recombination; etc.).
This class provides for the following processes:
Methods of plant breeding; methods of mutating plants; methods of producing plants using somatic cell fusion; and methods of introducing nucleic acid into or rearrangement of genetic material within a plant. All of these methods result in a living plant or plant part.
REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES
SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
PLT, Plants, for plants which are patentable under 35 U.S. Code, Section 161, which provides for the granting of a patent to whoever invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state.
8, Bleaching and Dyeing; Fluid Treatment and Chemical Modification of Textiles and Fibers, appropriate subclasses for compositions and manipulative processes for treating animal or plant derived fibers and tissues wherein the animal or plant fiber or tissue may or may not be chemically modified. Search particularly
94.1+, for compositions and processes for the treatment of hides, skins, feathers and other animal tissues with chemicals and the resulting products thereof; subclasses 115.51+ and those indented thereunder for processes for the chemical modification of hair, cellulose fibers, natural wool, silk and other fibers and products thereof; subclasses 101+ for processes of bleaching animal or plant derived fibers or tissue, subclass 150.5 for the fluid treatment of hides, skins, or leather; subclass 402 for processes for dyeing wood and subclasses 404+ for processes and compositions for dyeing animal derived natural fiber material (e.g., leather, fur, hair, feathers, etc.) and products thereof. 47, Plant Husbandry, appropriate subclasses for apparatus and processes for cultivating plants, multicellular fungi and multicellular algae. Search particularly
1.1, for apparatus and processes for culture of multicellular fungi and other edible mushrooms; subclass 1.4 for apparatus and method of fostering growth or cultivation of multicellular algae; subclass 1.41 for pollination methods and apparatus where the natural generation, propagation or reproduction of plant life is assisted by a discriminate or indiscriminate transfer of pollen to fertilize a plant flower; subclass 3 for methods of whitening growing celery; subclass 57.5 for processes and devices for injecting chemicals into living plants for various purposes, e.g., injecting coloring or preserving chemicals into trees to produce colored or preserved wood; subclass 57.6 for coated or impregnated seeds not provided for elsewhere; subclass 58.1 for plant husbandry methods which do not involve breeding or recombinant technology such as cultivation or planting methods, growing under certain environmental conditions, etc., and subclasses 59-64 for apparatus and processes for fostering growth beyond germination of plants in a nutrient medium and without soil, e.g., in an aquatic medium.
71, Chemistry: Fertilizers, appropriate subclasses for compositions and compounds which will alter plant growth as a response to a fertilizer action. Search
5, for products of special value in cultivation of fungi (e.g., mushrooms, etc.).
119, Animal Husbandry, appropriate subclasses for processes and apparatus for the propagation, rearing and care of living animals (e.g., insects, fish, fowl, mammals, etc.). Search
204+, for a process or apparatus for care and propagation of a lobster, crab, or like aquatic crustacean, subclasses 215+ for a process or apparatus for care and propagation of fish, subclasses 234+ for a process or apparatus for propagation and care of an oyster, clam, or other aquatic mollusk, and subclass 270 for a process or apparatus employed in propagation and care of a worm or other form of a moth whose larvae produce silk.
156, Adhesive Bonding and Miscellaneous Chemical Manufacture, appropriate subclasses for processes and apparatus, including a step of adhesively bonding parts together. Search particularly
57, for processes in which a plant or animal or part thereof is bonded to a support to maintain the natural appearance thereof.
424, Drug, Bio-Affecting and Body Treating Compositions,
1.11+, for in vivo diagnostic testing of nontransgenic animals and for diagnostic compositions used in said testing; and other appropriate subclasses for therapeutic treatment methods and compositions for treatment of living subjects.
426, Food or Edible Material: Processes, Compositions, and Products, appropriate subclasses for products and compositions of plant or animal origin in any physical form which are intended to be consumed by a human being or lower animal in whole or part via its oral cavity. Search particularly 7+, for fermentation processes wherein an enzyme or microorganism is employed biochemically to produce or perfect a food product or composition; subclasses 61 through 64 for edible products which contain a ferment material in a dormant state which can be activated, food products which contain microorganisms or food products with an ongoing fermentation process and processes of preparing such products; subclass 2 for processes of treating a live animal, e.g., processes of feeding an animal or injecting the animal with chemicals to modify the meat characteristics of the animal followed by a slaughtering operation, etc.; subclasses 93+ for food products containing seeds which may be coated or encapsulated or material derived therefrom; subclasses 250+ for processes of coloring food materials, e.g., citrus fruits, beans, nuts,
etc.; subclasses 253 through 261 for processes of removing color from food material; subclass 270 for processes of preserving or modifying the original color of a fruit or vegetable; subclasses 298+ for processes of treating an unshelled egg; subclass 309 for processes of coating a seed or bean with a liquid material; subclasses 331+ for processes of preserving animal flesh, citrus fruits, beans or cereal seeds; and subclasses 484+ for processes of removing a seed, pit, stem, or a core from a plant material.
427, Coating Processes, appropriate subclasses for processes of coating animals, plants and parts thereof. Search specifically
4, for processes of applying a coating to a plant member or an animal specimen with intent to preserve the member or specimen near or in its natural state.
428, Stock Material or Miscellaneous Articles, appropriate subclasses for products of nature that have been modified by processes other than coating, dyeing or bleaching. Search particularly
15+, for products of nature that have been modified but retain their general structure and appearance; subclasses 85+ for treated animal skin with fur; subclasses 101, 191, 511+, and 528+ for composite products where wood is a component; subclass 270 for a product which contains hair of sheep or hair from an animal whose hair is similar to that of sheep and subclasses 540+ for products of nature like leather, wood, etc., that have been impregnated with an extraneous material.
435, Chemistry: Molecular Biology and Microbiology, appropriate subclasses for processes and apparatus for propagating microorganisms and undifferentiated animal or plant cells, for cultivation of tissue, maintenance of tissue or organs in a viable state, for microorganisms, per se, and subcellular parts thereof. Search particularly
440+, for mutation and genetic engineering processes where a stable change in an animal or plant cell or microorganism is produced by artificially inducing a structure change in a gene or by incorporation of genetic material from an outside source; subclasses 325+ for compositions, processes, and media for the maintenance or in vitro propagation of undifferentiated animal or plant cells or groups of cells; subclasses 243+ for microorganisms, per se, including unicellular fungi and unicellular algae, compositions thereof and processes of propagating, maintaining, isolating, or preserving and culture media therefore; and subclasses 174+ for processes where a microbial cell (e.g., bacteria, fungi, algae, animal, or plant cell, etc.) is bound to a carrier during a continuous biochemical process.
504, Plant Protecting and Regulating Compositions,
116+, for compositions and compounds for treating living terrestrial and aquatic plants or their habitats for the purpose of stimulating, inhibiting or retarding growth, defoliating, or killing said plants, and the processes of using such compositions or compounds for such purposes which are not more than their mere application to the plant or habitat. The compositions or compounds included in this class will alter the plant growth through a chemical modification of the plant metabolism. Search particularly subclasses 150+ for compositions for retarding, inhibiting, or killing algae; subclasses 174+ for compositions used to suppress or retard the rate of growth or size of a plant; subclasses 184+ for compositions which inhibit, retard, destroy, or remove a sucker growth from a living plant. Class 504 also provides for seeds coated with agricultural chemicals other than fertilizers.
514, Drug, Bio-Affecting and Body Treating Compositions, 44, for treating living subjects with a polynucleotide wherein the polynucleotide does not become a part of the germ cell line and is therefor not heritable.
600, Surgery,
33+, for reproduction and fertilization techniques.
623, Prosthesis (i.e., Artificial Body Members) Parts Thereof, or Aids and Accessories Therefor, appropriate subclasses for artificial substitutes or parts for a human body, particularly manufactured or adapted to substitute or assist a missing or defective natural body member or part thereof for functional or cosmetic purposes. For purposes of Class 623, an artificial body member may include a natural other than human animal body part which has been treated or modified to produce a different type of replacement body part. An example is a graft usable for arteries, organs or skin which has been made from animal intestines or umbilical cord. Search particularly
1, for artificial blood vessels; subclass 3 for an artificial heart, regulator, power supply, or method of operation thereof; subclass 5 for corneal implants; subclass 15 for inventions manufactured or adapted to replace skin or hair; and subclasses 18+ and 27+ for inventions manufactured or adapted to replace a limb or part thereof (e.g., hand, legs, knee, feet, etc.).