Novel use of known human- or animal-derived materials, such as cells or cell-derived materials, is patentable as described before. However, it might be practically impossible to define or specify the material per se because of its complexity. Consequently, a product claim for such not-well-defined material is likely to be rejected for being unclear in Japanese practice.
When the material is not well defined, such novel use should NOT be claimed in the form of product claims, such as:
A cultured cell sheet derived from oral mucosa epithelial cells for regenerating cornea.
This claim is likely to be rejected for being unclear because the cultured cell sheet is not so well defined as to clearly outline the scope of the claim, and thus, appropriately warn the third parties.
Instead, such novel use should be claimed in the form of method of manufacturing claims, for example:
A method of manufacturing cultured cell sheet for regenerating cornea comprising a step of: treating oral mucosa epithelial cells with procedure X.
Please note that none of the oral mucosa epithelial cells, the procedure X and the cultured cell sheet has to be novel. In other words, patentability of the claim is recognized within novel use of a known product.
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