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Statutory Scaffolding9 TITLES
35 U.S.C. § 101Patent Act of 1952 (1952)

Inventions Patentable: Subject Matter Eligibility

Full Statutory File
SYSTEMIC ARCHITECTURE:Prevents private monopolization of basic mathematical truths, algorithms, and laws of physics that future innovators require as foundational tools.
Four Statutory CategoriesProcess, Machine, Manufacture, Composition

Any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter.

Judicial Interpretation: Interpreted broadly by Diamond v. Chakrabarty ('anything under the sun made by man') but bounded by judicial exceptions.

Judicial ExceptionsAbstract Ideas, Laws of Nature, Natural Phenomena

Implicit unpatentability of fundamental scientific and mathematical building blocks.

Judicial Interpretation: Structured into the Alice/Mayo two-step framework for software and algorithmic patent scrutiny.