Opinion of the Court
by their amino acid sequences. Ibid. In response to Amgen’s petition for certiorari, we agreed to take up the case. 598 U. S. ___ (2022).
II
The Constitution vests Congress with the power to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Art. I, §8, cl. 8. Right there in the text, one finds the outline of what this Court has called the patent “bargain.” Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc., 489 U. S. 141, 150 (1989). In exchange for bringing “new designs and technologies into the public domain through disclosure,” so they may benefit all, an inventor receives a limited term of “protection from competitive exploitation.” Id., at 151; see also The Federalist No. 43, p. 272 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (J. Madison) (explaining that in such cases “[t]he public good fully coincides … with the claims of individuals”).
Congress has exercised this authority from the start. The Patent Act of 1790 promised up to a 14-year monopoly to any applicant who “invented or discovered any useful art, manufacture, … or device, or any improvement therein not before known or used.” Act of Apr. 10, 1790, §1, 1 Stat. 110. Reflecting the quid-pro-quo premise of patent law, the statute required the applicant to deposit with the Secretary of State a “specification … so particular … as not only to distinguish the invention or discovery from other things before known and used, but also to enable a workman or other person skilled in the art or manufacture … to make, construct, or use the same.” §2, ibid. The statute made clear that this disclosure would ensure “the public may have the full benefit [of the invention or discovery], after the expiration of the patent term.” Ibid.
Even as Congress has revised the patent laws over time, it has left this “enablement” obligation largely intact. See
