Biotechnological inventions - introduction

There is still some controversity as to whether biotechnological inventions should be allowed to be patented.  Patents provide an incentive to innovation. Without the protection provided by patents, industry and other inventors might not undertake the risk, investment and necessary research to make the advances that we hope for in this area such as improved healthcare products. Research and development costs for biotechnological inventions are particularly high as marketing approval needs to be obtained for any healthcare products developed.

The patenting of biological inventions is governed by the Patents Act 1977 as amended by the Patents Regulations 2000  which entered into force on Friday 28 July, 2000. The Patents Act 1977 was amended to bring it into line with the  European Directive (98/44/EC) on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. The Directive was adopted in July 1998 with the support of the United Kingdom (UK)  to harmonise national patent laws of the Member States of the European Union which concern biotechnological inventions. The Regulations do not fundamentally change UK patent law and do not lead to anything being patentable in the UK which was not previously patentable under the Patents Act 1977.

The Regulations cover issues such as the patentability of certain biotechnological inventions, and the scope of patent protection and make clear that certain processes and things cannot be patented because their commercial exploitation would be contrary to morality.