An historical development of patenting microorganisms and genetically engineered animals in the USA and Europe.

Abstract

Patent law was established to encourage useful invention, and it has proved itself to be adaptable to the latest technologies. Genetic engineering has, however, presented a unique challenge to the traditional requirements and scope of patentability in Europe and America. The USA has been responsive to the genetic engineering of animals when interpreting its law, due to the revolutionary Chackrabarty decision in 1980 which opened the way to the patenting of life forms. European law, guided by the European Patent Convention, has been less able to adapt quickly to the concept of animal patents. It was the historical Harvard Mouse that caught the world's attention, and since then animal patenting has been the focus of heated legal and social debate in Europe and America. Never before has international patent law had to address such a complex and lively issue.