Patent Law in Biological Applications

The aim of this course is to analyze the basic European legislation and case-law with regard to patents in biological applications. Patents offer the crucial commercial motivation for applied research projects in biology and biotechnology intending to develop innovative products. Key notions in patent law (such as “discovery” and “invention”) that raise questions when the patent objectives are either new forms of life (transgenic organisms) or even existing parts of living organisms (i.e. genes), will be explored with the method of case studies