The U.S. patent number for Ananda Chakrabarty’s first patented genetically modified organism was 4,259,444.
Granted on March 31, 1981, the patent was titled “Microorganisms Having Multiple Compatible Degradative Energy-Generating Plasmids.” Chakrabarty, working for General Electric, engineered a bacterium in the genus Pseudomonas by combining plasmids that enabled it to break down several components of crude oil. The organism was proposed for use in cleaning up oil spills.
The patent became famous because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office initially rejected claims covering the bacterium itself, reasoning that living organisms were not patentable. The dispute reached the Supreme Court in Diamond v. Chakrabarty. In 1980, the Court held that a human-made microorganism with markedly different characteristics from anything found in nature could qualify as a patentable manufacture or composition of matter.
A common mix-up is the date: the Supreme Court decision came in 1980, but patent 4,259,444 was not granted until 1981. The number identifies the patent document, not the court case.