Biotechnology patenting policy in the European Union--as exemplified by the development in Germany

Abstract

Patenting of biotechnological inventions is an important concomitant side effect of progress in this field, but also a matter of dispute in the public. In this paper, the significance of and the prerequisites for patenting are reviewed, and the principal requirements for biotechnology patents in the signatory states of the European Patent Convention (EPC) are summarized. This is followed by a report on the historical development of biotech-patent legislation in Europe and in Germany as one contracting state to EPC and member state of the European Union. Characteristic features of the patenting policy in Europe and Germany are illustrated by critical examples of biotechnology patents or patent applications. Some examples illustrate the influence of the European Union's national states' case laws after these had crystallized into the EU Biotechnology Directive (1998), which later was adopted by the European Patent Organization into its Implementing Regulations (2001) and was implemented into national patent acts. Some frequent objections against patenting in modern biotechnology are considered. More and better information about prerequisites, consequences, and opportunities of patenting in biotechnology, if conveyed to science and technology scholars as multipliers, may help to rationalize public discussion.