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Team:Groningen/human practices legal perspective
From 2011.igem.org
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| + | Pantents are a hot topic in synthetic bioligy and will | ||
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
The basic idea behind pantents is a simple one: an inventor who applies for, and is granted, a patent is given a 20 year monopoly on the invention specified in the patent application. In return for this he is obliged to disclose the details of his invention so other can learn from it and improve upon it. Such improvements are in turn patentable but anyone who would like to use an improvement must, in most cases, be licensed by the holders of both patents. | The basic idea behind pantents is a simple one: an inventor who applies for, and is granted, a patent is given a 20 year monopoly on the invention specified in the patent application. In return for this he is obliged to disclose the details of his invention so other can learn from it and improve upon it. Such improvements are in turn patentable but anyone who would like to use an improvement must, in most cases, be licensed by the holders of both patents. | ||
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The common justification for such a system is that it stimulates innovation. It does this by protecting the large investments that are often required to develop a new patentable product. Without the protection a patent can offer companies or individual posses | The common justification for such a system is that it stimulates innovation. It does this by protecting the large investments that are often required to develop a new patentable product. Without the protection a patent can offer companies or individual posses | ||
would have to go to great lengths to keep the details of their invention secret. | would have to go to great lengths to keep the details of their invention secret. | ||
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Over the last few year there has been much addoo about biological patents | Over the last few year there has been much addoo about biological patents | ||
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==European patent law== | ==European patent law== | ||
| - | European | + | The first thing to note about european patents is that there is formaly no such thing. Pantents in europe are still first and formost a national affair. Each country has its own separate laws and regulations on the subject. So when we refer to European patent law what we actually mean is a patchwork of several international agreements in addtion to before mentioned many national laws. |
| - | The most important of these are: | + | The most important of these agreements are: |
| - | * The European Patent Convention (In force since October 7th 1977 | + | * The European Patent Convention (In force since October 7th 1977) |
* The TRIPS agreement (In effect since January 1st 1995) | * The TRIPS agreement (In effect since January 1st 1995) | ||
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* Convention on Biological Diversity (In effect since 29th December 1993) | * Convention on Biological Diversity (In effect since 29th December 1993) | ||
| - | While some of these law sources extend beyond the current 27 member of the european union they are all | + | While some of these law sources extend beyond the current 27 member of the european union they are all applicable for these 27 members. Below is a quick description of each of these treaties: |
| + | ===European Patent Convention=== | ||
| + | The European Patent Convention covers mostly | ||
| + | Procedural Law it formulates | ||
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It States that: | It States that: | ||
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==Practical patent law== | ==Practical patent law== | ||
| + | In practice patent law is rarely working as it was invisioned. Patent bureau's quite often grant papents on technolegy that was either alreaddy published, or subject to exemtions on patentabilety. | ||
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| + | It is for this reason that duplicate patents still occur very rarely: The collection of submitted patents | ||
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| + | In some industries, most notably | ||
Revision as of 11:07, 1 September 2011
Introduction
The basic idea behind pantents is a simple one: an inventor who applies for, and is granted, a patent is given a 20 year monopoly on the invention specified in the patent application. In return for this he is obliged to disclose the details of his invention so other can learn from it and improve upon it. Such improvements are in turn patentable but anyone who would like to use an improvement must, in most cases, be licensed by the holders of both patents.
The common justification for such a system is that it stimulates innovation. It does this by protecting the large investments that are often required to develop a new patentable product. Without the protection a patent can offer companies or individual posses
would have to go to great lengths to keep the details of their invention secret.
Over the last few year there has been much addoo about biological patents But over the last decades the addtion of GMO to the mix has created much controversy. This section of our wiki tries to give biolegist a understandable legal perspective on the current state of patent law in europe. It does this by ex For
Patent law in general
Some historian argue that patent law originated as early as the italian renaisance but the use of patents as a means of protecting investment was never aplied on large scale until after the second world war. Since then the the number patents granted worldwide has exploded. According to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization over 1.5 million patents where granted world wide last year alone. This number contains many duplicate patents since a patent is not global: its needs to be requested in almost every courty separately.
Although patent law differs greatly from country to country some aspects are harmonized by the TRIPS agreement which most countries in the world have signed.
What action do patents restrict?
What action do patents not restrict?
- You can still us patented cells for research purposes
European patent law
The first thing to note about european patents is that there is formaly no such thing. Pantents in europe are still first and formost a national affair. Each country has its own separate laws and regulations on the subject. So when we refer to European patent law what we actually mean is a patchwork of several international agreements in addtion to before mentioned many national laws. The most important of these agreements are:
- The European Patent Convention (In force since October 7th 1977)
- The TRIPS agreement (In effect since January 1st 1995)
Addtionally biological patents specifcally are heavely influenced by:
- Directive 98/44/EC (In force since Juli 30th 1998)
- Convention on Biological Diversity (In effect since 29th December 1993)
While some of these law sources extend beyond the current 27 member of the european union they are all applicable for these 27 members. Below is a quick description of each of these treaties:
European Patent Convention
The European Patent Convention covers mostly Procedural Law it formulates
It States that:
Practical patent law
In practice patent law is rarely working as it was invisioned. Patent bureau's quite often grant papents on technolegy that was either alreaddy published, or subject to exemtions on patentabilety.
It is for this reason that duplicate patents still occur very rarely: The collection of submitted patents
In some industries, most notably
