if I want to combine herbs together would I need patient.. Such herbs as L-Arginine, Epimedium, Tribulus Terrestris, Tongkat Ali, and Cnidium ?
Patient or patent? A patent doesn't give you permission to do anything, it just protects a process or invention you have created. A patient is a sick person that you treat. Presumably you need at least one patient to consume your herbal concoction, just so you can make sure he doesn't die.
I meant patent. Well not me, this person I know wants to sell combination of legal herbs mix together, and he wants to know if it needs a patent.
He needs a patent if this combination of herbs would qualify as a novel invention and he wants to stop other people from being able to sell it without a licence. You need to talk to a patent attorney to get advice on whether it's patentable. But, as I said, there is no requirement to have a patent before selling something. A patent doesn't give you permission to do anything.
shahab6, I would like to know more, what are the effects? PM me, we would be interested in partnering.
If you are selling things for human consumption there are some safety rules you have to follow, but in general if you are not making medical claims it's not a big deal. People combine flour and sugar and butter and sell cookies, for example. If he is claiming that his concoction has medical benefits then he needs FDA approval.
Its like herbal viagra, it's pretty good, I have tried it myself.. but I want to know if i need a patient to combine those herbs together and sell them... basically can i combine 5 herbs and sell them?
If you're selling them as a remedy of some sort then you will need to seek legal advice. If you're just mixing herbs and selling them as a novelty product, or at least the packaging says "for novelty use" or "not for human consumption" I believe you can do what you like. That's how the websites selling mephedrone are succeeding hugely here in the UK - a legal alternative to ecstacy that is being sold as "plant food / research chemicals".
I'm pretty sure that in the U.S., you can't get a patent for a recipe for food, much to my wife's sorrow . And if you're claiming it's medicine, then there are a whole *lot* of hoops you have to jump through, courtesy of the FDA (as SmallPotatoes mentioned). Hmm... L-Arginine is an amino acid, isn't it? I'm taking a stab in the dark here, but it's possible that adding this to a food makes it a food additive, which may trigger other laws. I think there are some studies of L-arginine which suggest some possible health risks for certain types of people, but this is out of my realm of expertise.