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Team:Groningen/human practices legal perspective
From 2011.igem.org
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
European Patent law is governed by a several international agreements in addtion to a great many national laws. The most important of these are:
- The European Patent Convention (In force since October 7th 1977, newest revistion)
- 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
A quick description of each of these treaties:
The European Patent Convention covers mostly
It States that:
European Patent Convention article 53
European patents shall not be granted in respect of: (a) inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to "ordre public" or morality; such exploitation shall not be deemed to be so contrary merely because it is prohibited by law or regulation in some or all of the Contracting States; (b) plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals; this provision shall not apply to microbiological processes or the products thereof; (c) methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body; this provision shall not apply to products, in particular substances or compositions, for use in any of these methods.
Refrences
