1817 12 283/2 The improvement relied on by Witness was not useful, and consequently not a patentable improvement under the patent law.
1832 C. Babbage (ed. 2) Pref. p. xi The important subject of the Patent-laws.
1991 Mar. 18/1 The ‘Harvard mouse’, as it is now often called, satisfied the requirements for protection as an invention under standard patent law.