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EPO conference illuminates biotechnology from all sides
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Held in the Stanhope Hotel in Brussels and moderated by journalist Paul Meller, the conference in four experts panels gave a voice to proponents and critics of biotechnology patenting, who eventually all came to the same conclusion: Nearly ten years after Europe's lawmakers adopted the BioTech Directive 98/44 EC, legal uncertainty still affects the work of IP specialists, researchers and enterprises alike.
While the individual countries are interpreting specific concepts of the directive differently, the EPO is seen to be "the cement between its member states," said Johan Vanhemelrijk, the secretary general of EuropaBio, an industry group.
EPO ‘no closed shop'
Sharon Bowles, a member of the European Parliament, called for a swift installation of a European Patent Court to achieve legal harmonisation, and noted that the EPO was "no closed shop" but helped facilitate the exchange of ideas regarding biotechnology patenting.
With Greenpeace, the industry and the EPO at one table, the controversial issue was illuminated from all sides: Prof. Julian Kinderlerer, a member of the European Group on Ethics that advises the EC on ethical questions, gave an inside glimpse into the tough reasoning pro and contra biotechnology patents.
Experts also noted the decline of DNA patenting, illuminated the ethical and legal issues surrounding plants and animal patents and stressed the difficulty to identify a European moral norm with regard to patents for human embryonic stem cells.
The conference was part of a three-leg event that included a meeting with the European Parliament (on invitation by MEP Peter Liese) and a get-together with representatives from EuropaBio, to whom the EPO gave a presentation of its activities.
Further information
- Patenting issues: Biotechnology
- Event information and presenations: Patenting biotechnological inventions in Europe