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565:(EAGS) were both against the patenting of genes initially. However, this changed when SmithKline Beecham began making donations to GIG. In January '97, the head of both organisations organized an information event on human gene-patenting in Strasbourg in January 1997, which was presented as an event of patient organisations.
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voted in favour of the
Directive under strong pressure from these interest groups in what was described as "the largest lobby campaign in the history of the EU." On the day of the July '97 vote, a number of people in wheelchairs from some patient interest groups demonstrated outside the main hall in
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from the patient interest groups, but it has been said that the majority of patient interest groups were not expressed because of industry-supported lobbying co-opted the vocal groups and made them present their message. While most patient interest groups did not buy in to the corporate dream, some
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noted that "In the members’ view, it cannot be said with any reasonableness that a sequence or partial sequence of a gene ceases to be part of the human body merely because an identical copy of the sequence is isolated from or produced outside of the human body." TRIPS applies to the
European
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Art. 27.1 TRIPS provides that patents are only to be granted with respect to 'inventions'. The directive, however, provides that "biological material which is isolated from its natural environment ... may be the subject of an invention even if it previously occurred in nature." It is clearly
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and the vote with the most yes votes was
Amendment 9 from the Greens which got 221 against 294 votes out of 532 members voting with 17 abstentions but 314 yes votes would have been required to reach the required an absolute majority to adopt it.
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arguable that merely isolating a human gene or protein from its natural environment is not an activity that can come within the meaning of the word 'invention'. The Danish
Council of Bioethics in its Patenting Human Genes and Stem Cells Report
454:, the Commission submitted an assessment of the implications for basic genetic engineering research of failure to publish, or late publication of, papers on subjects which could be patentable as required under Article 16(b) of this directive
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Community as it is a member of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) in its own right and accordingly must ensure "the conformity of its laws, regulations and administrative procedures with obligations as provided" by the WTO.
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Nevertheless, the ECJ decision does not preclude a further test of the validity of the directive on the ground that it is inconsistent with the
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
631:, decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) of November 25, 2008, relating to (non-patentability of) inventions involving the use and destruction of human embryos.
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641:
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Report from the
Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Development and implications of patent law in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering
382:, the Commission adopted a new proposal was nearly identical to the rejected version, was changed again, but the Parliament put aside its ethical concerns on
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Strasbourg, chanting the pharmaceutical industry's slogan, "No
Patents, No Cure" in an emotional appeal to Parliamentarians to vote for the Directive.
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Part of this campaign was direct support of patient charities and organizations and using that to actively manipulate and instrumentalise
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Directive 98/44/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions
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against the adoption of the directive with six different pleas but the Court granted none of them.
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As of January 15, 2007, all of the 27 EU member states had implemented the Directive.
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which have been by far the most influential lobby groups active on the Directive. Many
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fr:Directive sur la brevetabilité des inventions biotechnologiques
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Deposit, access and re-deposit of biological material (Chapter IV)
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Thus, MEPs perceived a strong and unified position in favour of
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Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions
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1995 so the first directive process did not yield a directive
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in its second reading and adopted the Common Position of the
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The Directive is divided into the following five chapters:
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issues regarding the patentability of living matter. The
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lobbyist Simon Gentry, the company allocated 30 million
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678:Directorate-General for the Internal Market
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563:European Alliance of Genetic Support Groups
494:. Please do not remove this message until
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591:Industry and the EU Life Patent Directive
514:Learn how and when to remove this message
344:The original proposal was adopted by the
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294:Compulsory cross-licensing (Chapter III)
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610:, Implementation Report from the EU
253:. It was intended to harmonize the
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692:Some biotechnological inventions
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288:Patentability (Chapter I)
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239:European Union directive
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539:patient interest groups
696:European Patent Office
559:Genetic Interest Group
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642:Text of the Directive
422:brought Case C-377/98
386:of human genes in on
676:from the Commission
667:from the Commission
245:law, made under the
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483:of this section is
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346:European Commission
228:Current legislation
108:Implementation date
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425:before the
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274:human genes
220:Replaced by
182:COM(2002) 2
651:2005-07-14
481:neutrality
448:January 14
328:March 2007
266:inventions
212:Amended by
173:1998-06-01
167:1997-09-22
152:1996-10-07
137:1997-10-11
131:1996-10-08
124:Commission
112:2000-07-30
102:1998-07-30
92:1998-07-06
76:1998-07-30
60:Made under
685:from the
658:from the
492:talk page
384:patenting
88:Date made
71:reference
63:Art. 100a
618:See also
485:disputed
340:Timeline
196:Replaces
126:proposal
656:Summary
396:Council
388:July 12
366:March 1
354:ethical
280:Content
223:—
215:—
207:—
199:—
179:Reports
162:opinion
147:opinion
83:History
69:Journal
54:Council
46:Made by
715:IPL-EU
683:Issues
629:G 2/06
413:July 6
243:patent
204:Amends
171:C167,
165:C286,
150:C295,
135:C311,
129:C296,
74:L213,
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706:Paper
577:Notes
237:is a
38:Title
557:The
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418:The
392:1998
380:1995
350:1988
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