CHAPTER 4: The embryo being researched: a look at patents

Abstract

Patents on living matter have multiplied since Directive n ° 98/44 / EC of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions1 which admitted patents on living matter whatever its origin, plant or animal. or human. Since then, biotechnology patent law has been built up little by little, over the texts, from the decisions of the European Patent Office (EPO) and especially those of the CJEU. This construction of biotechnology patent law is tricky because of the many controversies surrounding the subject matter of these patents, particularly when it comes to living human matter. Indeed, controversies are lively between opponents and supporters of biotechnological patents, particularly in France where the transposition of Directive 98/44 / EC was late and laborious. The French legislator has made an unfaithful transposition of the directive demonstrating on this occasion its hostility to admitting the patentability of living human beings.