Intricacies Of Biotechnological Inventions And Its Impact On The Patent Regime

Nithin Rajeev, Assistant Professor, IFIM Law School

ABSTRACT

Biotechnology have always been an arena that have been constantly evolving with the progress of the mankind. Considering the delicate nature of the field itself it has been a subject matter of various public policy considerations. This emanates from the fact that biotechnology involves manipulation and restructuring of genetic materials that have been traditionally considered to be a non-patentable subject matter. The ethical and moral considerations involved in patenting of lifeforms raises concerns that cannot be ignored. This paper strives to look into the difficulties in patenting a lifeform and the challenges that it might impose on the existing scientific knowledge. This is done through tracing the history of biotechnological inventions and the way it shaped human progress and influenced the generational knowledge. From cloning of dolly to development of fluorescently coloured genetically modified GloFish biotechnology have impacted the way we see the world. The paper also addresses the obligations of the patenting regime and the careful discretion to be exercised by them in giving exclusive rights in this arena. The paper also undertakes a case study analysis of onco mouse proceedings and the plant genetic system case in the European patent office and the reverberations of it in different jurisdictions. The question of product of nature jurisprudence in India specifically with relation to Section 3 is also brought to light to bring the paper to a full cycle.