Patenteability of Biological Molecules
Keywords:
International Property, Patent Law, Natural Biological Molecules, Biodiversity, International Law, Comparative Law, Environmental Law, Biotechnology, DNA.Abstract
International Property Law and its branch Patent Law disposes legally new human invents with industrial application. Inventions distinguish from discoveries, due to the fact of not being pre-existent and result of human creative activity. In the USA, the USPTO – United States Patent and Trademark Office, official agency for grant of patents, allow the patent of natural biological molecules extracted and isolated from organisms, including genes and their DNA, according the assertion that these products don’t exist in pure format in their natural state, only when associated to other molecules; American Constitution and Patent Act refer to “discoveries” to allow their protection by patents. In the European Union, patent of natural molecules is established in Directive 98/44/EC, article 3.2. Munich Convention on European Patents, in article 52.2.a, however, prohibits the grant of patents for discoveries. The fact is there is not inventive activity in molecules simply isolated from nature, and is classified as discovery, not as an invention. So, this Directive conflicts with the Munich Convention, which is hierarchically higher.
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