Obligations with Patent Applications
Before a patent can be issued, following specific conditions must be met: (i) the invention must be new (novelty) and should have utility; (ii) it must be inventive (which means it should not be just obvious but should represent a real advance made through the insight of the inventor); (iii) it must be disclosed (disclosure) in a way, which enables a person of normal skill to reproduce it; (iv) the scope of protection to be granted must be in proportion to the invention; (v) it must relate to a technology, where patents are permitted (patentable).
The application of these conditions can vary to some extent in different countries. A fundamental requirement of patent law thus is that in the application, the inventor should describe fully the invention.
If the organism is already known and only discovery of a new property is the subject of patent, the microorganisms need not be described and can be simply named.

The deposit of material seves the following important functions: (i) it provides a reference material for any dispute about its novelty, or when a third partly is using it without a licence from the patentee; (ii) the deposited material provides for a source to enable others to use it, when they are legally free to do so, i.e. when the patent expires at the end of normal term.