New EU Draft On Biotech Patents

A new draft directive on the legal protection of biotechnology inventions and innovations was announced by the European Commission at end-1995. This would set the period of patent protection at 30 years, and give patent rights to animate and inanimate matter equally. The granting of a patent would confer no rights of use covered by other European Union legislation.

A Commission spokesman said the main difference between EU and US legislation is that discoveries which threaten "good order and public morality" would not be licensed in Europe. New developments had now gone beyond the limits of technical understanding of the European Patent Office, whose recent difficulties in trying unsuccessfully to resolve the problems posed by the Harvard Oncomouse demonstrate, in the Commission's view, the need for legislative intervention.

The licensing system would not be able to control research, and the proposed new legislation would merely determine which inventions could be licensed. The aims would be to ensure safety and public health, protect the environment and animals, preserve genetic diversity and establish respect for certain ethical norms.