The BRCA patent controversies: an international review of patent disputes

摘要: General patentability criteria are globally uniform and technology-neutral (requiring that the invention is new, involves an inventive step and is capable of industrial application). 2 National patent systems show considerable variation, however, in how each criterion is applied, either through patent legislation or as developed through case law. As with any other field of technology, biological materials are, in principle, capable of fulfilling these criteria. In all jurisdictions, however, a question of threshold must be addressed before these patentability criteria are applied. This question concerns whether or not the invention constitutes patentable subject matter. Although not traditionally viewed as satisfying this threshold requirement, many kinds of living matter are now considered to be eligible, and as a consequence patents have intruded on the field of human genetics as well. This intrusion has not gone unnoticed …