Patent Politics
Life Forms, Markets, and the Public Interest in the United States and Europe
Shobita Parthasarathy
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
2017 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2017.
Printed in the United States of America
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ISBN-13: 978-0-226-43785-9 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-43799-6 (e-book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226437996.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Parthasarathy, Shobita, author.
Title: Patent politics : life forms, markets, and the public interest in the United States and Europe / Shobita Parthasarathy.
Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016026515 | ISBN 9780226437859 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226437996 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: BiotechnologyPatents. | Patent laws and legislationUnited StatesHistory. | Patent laws and legislationEuropeHistory. | BioethicsUnited States. | BioethicsEurope.
Classification: LCC TP248.175 .P35 2017 | DDC 174.2dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016026515
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI / NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Contents
AAVS | American Anti-Vivisection Society |
ACLU | American Civil Liberties Union |
ALDF | Animal Legal Defense Fund (US) |
AMP | Association for Molecular Pathology (US) |
APA | Administrative Procedures Act (US) |
ASPCA | American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals |
BPD | Biotech Patent Directive: formally, the EU Directive for the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions |
BRCA1/2 | Breast Cancer Genes 1 and 2 |
CAFA | Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (US) |
CCPA | Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (US) |
CCST | California Council on Science and Technology (US) |
cDNA | complementary DNA |
CGS | Center for Genetics and Society (US) |
CIRM | California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (US) |
Commission | European Commission |
Council | Council of Europe |
DOJ | Department of Justice (US) |
EBA | Enlarged Board of Appeal (Europe) |
ECJ | European Court of Justice |
ECLJ | European Center for Law and Justice |
EEC | European Economic Community |
EFTA | European Free Trade Association |
EGE | European Group on Ethics in New Science and Technologies |
EPA | Environmental Protection Agency (US) |
EPC | European Patent Convention |
epi | Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (European Patent Institute) |
EPO | European Patent Office |
ESC | Economic and Social Committee (Europe) |
EST | Expressed sequence tag |
EU | European Union |
FDA | Food and Drug Administration (US) |
FDA | Food and Drug Administration (US) |
FET | Foundation on Economic Trends (originally the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, then the Peoples Business Commission, and now FET) (US) |
FTCR | Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (now Consumer Watchdog) (US) |
GAEIB | Group of Advisors on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology (Europe) |
hESC | Human embryonic stem cells |
HGP | Human Genome Project |
HHS | Department of Health and Human Services (US) |
ICTA | International Center for Technology Assessment (US) |
KPAL | Kein Patent Auf Leben/No Patents on Life (Europe) |
MEP | Member of the European Parliament |
Myriad | Myriad Genetics (US) |
NIH | National Institutes of Health (US) |
NPOS | No Patents on Seeds (Europe) |
NRC | National Research Council (US) |
Organization | European Patent Organization |
OSGATA | Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (US) |
Parliament | European Parliament |
PBC | Peoples Business Commission (originally the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, now FET) (US) |
PTO | Patent and Trademark Office (US) |
PubPat | Public Patent Foundation (US) |
RAC | Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (US) |
rDNA | recombinant DNA |
SACGHS | HHS Secretarys Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (US) |
SACGT | HHS Secretarys Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (US) |
SAWS | Sensitive Application Warning System (US PTO) |
SCOTUS | US Supreme Court |
SeCa | Sensitive Cases system ( EPO) |
SftP | Science for the People (US) |
TBA | Technical Board of Appeal (Europe) |
TRIPS | Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement |
UPOV | International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants |
USDA | US Department of Agriculture |
WARF | Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (US) |
The headquarters of the European Patent Office ( EPO) is not a place known for political activism. And yet, on a cool morning in October 2013, dozens of protestors barricaded themselves in front of the EPOs main buildings in Munich and demanded that the patent bureaucracy Stop Patents on Life. These civil society challengersincluding farmers, environmentalists, representatives of international development organizations, and average citizenshad gathered to oppose the EPOs decisions to permit patents on conventional plants and animals bred using biotechnology, which, they argued, would accelerate dangerous consolidation in the agricultural industry. Equally important, they suggested, such patents would continue to disempower small farmers, who would be forced to depend on patent holders for their crops and ultimately have trouble maintaining independent businesses. But underlying all of these arguments lay concerns that the EPO was, as their signs put it, a democracy-free zone. Protestors charged that the patent bureaucracy did not adequately consider the will of the European people, but instead privileged private interests while cloaking its decisions in technical and legal language.