Glea meeting 2013 – Biotechnological inventions and limits of patentability between EU and US: abstract dell’intervento di Andrea Stazi

Biotechnology patent regulation should aim to ensure a proper balance between protection of investments and access to essential information for research and innovation. In this perspective, it is worthwhile to highlight the relationship – always growing with the scientific and economic development – between intellectual property and the system of fundamental rights. There are always more frequently cases in which the courts are called to evaluate the legitimacy of the granting or the use of intellectual property rights in regards to a fundamental principle of constitutional status considered to be antagonistic to them, such as right to health, freedom of scientific research, human dignity, etc. The aforementioned concerns have been the issues at stake in the recent US Supreme Court decisions on the Myriad and Mayo cases, regarding the relationship between patents on genes, freedom of research and the right to health, as well as, in a different – bioethical – perspective, in the EU Court of Justice rulings on the validity of directive no. 98/44/EC in light of the principles of human dignity and the non-patentability of discoveries, and on the Brüstle case regarding the compatibility of patenting of embryonic stem cells with the principles of human dignity and integrity. In particular, the last Supreme Court decisions on the cases Myriad and Mayo seem susceptible to produce some important results toward a more balanced level playing field for biotechnology research and innovation. Consulta il programma della conferenza Andrea Stazi