(1) Patents are not granted for
1. plant and animal varieties and essentially biological processes for the production of plants and animals and the plants and animals produced exclusively by such processes;
2. methods for the treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body. This does not apply to products, in particular to substances or compositions, for use in one of these methods.
(2) Patents can be granted for inventions which concern
1. plants or animals if the technical feasibility of the invention is not confined to a particular plant or animal variety;
2. a microbiological or other technical process, or a product obtained by means of such a process other than a plant or animal variety.
Section 1a (3) applies accordingly.
(3) For the purposes of this Act,
1. ʻbiological materialʼ means any material containing genetic information and capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system;
2. ʻmicrobiological processʼ means any process involving or performed upon or resulting in microbiological material;
3. ʻessentially biological processʼ means a process for the production of plants or animals consisting entirely of natural phenomena such as crossing or selection;
4. ʻplant varietyʼ means a variety as defined in Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 on Community plant variety rights (OJ L 227, 1.1.1994, p. 1), as amended.