1. What are the limits of patentable subject matter?

2. What are the relative roles of the courts and the legislature in making and interpreting law?

3. What steps does a court take when it engages in statutory interpretation? What sources does it look to in determining what a statute means?

In 1972, respondent Chakrabarty, a microbiologist, filed a patent application, assigned to the General Electric Co. The application asserted 36 claims related to Chakrabarty’s invention of “a bacterium from the genus Pseudomonas..” This human-made, genetically engineered bacterium is capable of breaking down multiple components of crude oil. Because of this property, which is possessed by no naturally occurring bacteria, Chakrabarty’s invention is believed to have significant value for the treatment of oil spills.