Research report 2008 - Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law
Patenting Inventions Pertaining to Early Stages of Human Life
Authors
Clara Sattler de Sousa e Brito
Departments
Geistiges Eigentum und Wettbewerbsrecht (Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Joseph Straus)
MPI für Geistiges Eigentum, Wettbewerbs- und Steuerrecht, München
Summary
Ethical objections to modern biotechnology, especially those pertaining to human life, currently generate vivacious public discussions, which naturally flow into Patent Law due to the application of patents to biotechnology. Subsequently, the European Parliament generated a list of examples of the public order exclusion from patentability in the Biopatent Directive. However, these examples were unclear, resulting in not only an unfortunate profusion of different national solutions, but also leading to a constitutional issue by removing decision-making power from the democratic processes.