There are quite a few things in the world that cannot be patented. Copyrights protect works of an intellectual nature (books, films, music, etc...) and trademarks protect the symbols and designed used to denote and describe the origin of a product. There are a lot of things that can and cannot be patented. Even this list is non-exhaustive, if you need further clarification, please consult a patent attorney.

To receive a patent, your object has to be new, non-obvious, and useful. Nor can your object be naturally occurring in nature. Theoretically, If you created a living being, you could file a patent because it is a new genetically engineered "species."

You cannot patent a favorite milkshake, no matter how awesome it tastes. If you wrote a descriptive recipe, you can copyright the recipe so nobody else can publish it.

You cannot patent a discovery. Just because you were the first person to discover something is not grounds enough to warrant a patent. If you wrote a book detailing your discovery and how you discovered it, that would be protected under copyright.

Mathematics cannot be copyrighted, but a certain mathematical process that helps achieve a certain end might be able to be protected under either copyright or patent depending on the process.

You cannot patent a film, but you can file a design patent on certain aspects of the film such as certain costumes and props.

If your invention was previously invented and patented by someone else, it cannot be patented as it already exists.

Certain aspects of a software's code could be patented, but most software is protected by copyright. A video game system's method of accessing data might be able to be patented, but the design of the console itself could be copyrighted, as well as certain other aspects of its creation.

While a song cannot be patented, but copyrighted, a new type of musical instrument designed to play that song can be patented.

While a dance's choreography could be protected by copyright, certain things that help the dance itself could be patented. For example, Michael Jackson holds a patent on a device used in his and his dancers shoes to allow them to perform a certain piece of the Smooth Criminal dance.

Laws of nature cannot be patented. Not even Isaac Newton could patent the law of gravity. He could copyright a book in which he wrote about it, but as it is an idea, and something found in nature, he could not file a patent on it. Physical phenomenon is also something that cannot be patented. The Aurora Borealis cannot be patented, not matter how beautiful it is, nor can the process by which a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

One thing most people fail to think of when they think of things that cannot be patented is items that are not useful, such as perpetual motion machines or machines whose only function is to turn themselves off.

If the object is offensive to public morality, the object cannot be patented. This would be a device created to do illegal actions, such as a device that makes it easier to rob a bank or break out of a jail.

As stated before, this list is not exhaustive, there are a lot of items that can and cannot be patented and any list cannot seek to name them all.

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