Protecting scientific discoveries ... do we?

The IPKat's friend Mark Houghton, all the way from beautiful Bakewell (home of the eponymous pudding), has been contemplating the recent post on this weblog concerning the new WIPO logo. It was not however the smart new design that caught his eye but rather the text that accompanied it: "The seven curved lines represent the seven elements of IP, as set out in the WIPO Convention: ... * scientific discoveries ...".

This set Mark thinking and he now asks:

"Is there anywhere in the world that actually treats scientific discoveries as IP? I thought (presumably wrongly) that there was an effectively universal exclusion from Patenting and none of the other rights seem to fit the bill … "

Casting back through the distant recesses of an old Kat's memory, Jeremy says has this feeling that back in the early days of WIPO a model law was prepared for developing countries on the protection of scientific discoveries, but he doesn't know whatever happened to it or if any WIPO Member enacted such a law, or what has happened since. Can any of our readers help? If so, please post your information as comments below.

Amazing discoveries here, here and (be careful, now) here
Voyages of discovery here
Cat discovered here