In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a patent could be issued for a genetically-engineered bacterium in the case of Diamond vs. Chakrabarty. In a landmark decision, the judges held five to four that the Patent Office should recognize “any” new and useful “manufacture” or “composition of matter,” and that the fact that micro-organisms are alive was without legal significance in the related patent law. Arguments were heard on 17 Mar 1980, when microbiologist, Ananda Chakrabarty appealed the rejection of his 1972 patent application for a human-made, genetically engineered bacterium capable of breaking down crude oil, which no naturally occurring bacteria could do. Patent No. 4,259,444 was eventually issued 31 Mar 1981.«[Image: the patented Burkholderia cepacia bacterium; inset: Chakrabarty]