In Australia an invention is patentable if, to begin with, it is a "manner of manufacture". The plurality in the High Court formulated the key question as: "Whether the invention as claimed is for a product made, or a process producing an outcome as a result of human action" (para ). It held that the product in issue continued to consist basically of genetic information that occurs naturally, had not been altered as a result of human action, therefore had not been "manufactured" and consequently was not patentable. The plurality reflected that a broader conception of patentability could, both by creating virtual monopolies and by blurring the boundaries of what might come to be patented, produce a chilling effect on research and application, contrary to the purposes of patent protection.