Intellectual Propert Issues
Living Organisms
Did you hear the one about the company which patented an animal? Perhaps it wasn’t a joke after all.
Australian patent law has developed in line with some other jurisdictions, such that isolated forms of living organisms, including microorganisms, plants, fungi, animals and genetically modified organisms are patentable in Australia, subject to the usual criteria for novelty and non-obviousness. However, the Patents Act specifically prohibits the patenting of human beings and methods for their generation. Inventions that are contrary to law are also not patentable and on that basis, any invention that is contrary to legislation governing cloning, for example, would also not be entitled to patent protection.
Recent clarification by IP Australia and the courts as to the types of inventions that fall within the patentable and non-patentable categories has been helpful to practitioners but many grey areas still remain in this technologically, legally and ethically complex area.
Click here for a spokesperson The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) is the peak professional body representing Australian patent and trade mark attorneys.
Phone Australia: 03 9819 2004. Email: mail@ipta.org.au
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Australian Intellectual Property Issues: Living Organisms
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