[nonamegiven]

Interesting comment from the article's comment thread, from Janne. A patent is for the commercialization of an idea. Anyone is free to implement any patent for personal use, as long as you don't sell it. If the use of this common chemical, and its transformation, is understood well enough for this to become a home brew possibility, then people could do exactly that. Not that this is possible or advisable for most drugs, but this particular drug may be one.

[kens]

IANAL but US patent law does not have a personal use exception. 35 USC § 271 covers "makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells" (with some exceptions).

http://www.bpmlegal.com/patqa.html#1 http://www.iusmentis.com/patents/crashcourse/rights/ http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/271

[dodo53]

That's interesting! I wonder if a charitable company decide to make say AIDS drugs and give them away without breaching patent law?

[nonamegiven]

I suspect "making available" would be treated similar to selling.

But if the law is as described in the ref'd comment, I wonder why there aren't sites or books that walk you up to the point where you can provide the invention for your personal use.

[maxerickson]

My not particularly well informed understanding is that it is more a of a practical exception than a technical one. So a patent holder could try to use the legal system to stop personal use, it just isn't worth doing.