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Editor: Avgi Kaisi


It is thought that Life Sciences and Biotechnology will be the most promising technological frontiers within converging technologies in the coming decades. Biotechnology has been the driving force behind many key developments in the medical, pharmaceutical, agrichemical, environmental and energy sectors. There is, therefore, clearly a need for legal protection for such developments and inventions.

However, despite the celebrated judgment of “Diamond v. Chackrabarty” in 1980, in which the US Supreme Court  ruled that “anything under the sun that is made by man” can be the subject matter of IP (Intellectual Property) protection, several issues are still being hotly debated in both the scientific and legal worlds.  

The recent Myriad case perfectly illustrates the ongoing debate on the question of what is patentable and what is to be considered a product of nature (and therefore not patentable). In particular, the question of whether isolated or purified human genes can be patented has been addressed; in other cases, the most controversial point is not what is patentable but rather what the ethical implications of research and patenting are (e.g. Embryonic Stem Cell research and patenting).

This section gathers together judicial, legislative and academic materials concerning the development of such debates.

We invite those readers who are interested in this initiative to send comments, materials or literature related to IP rights and Biotechnology to the following email address: avgi.kaisi01@universitadipavia.it .


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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