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Commentary

Nature 458, 407-408 (26 March 2009) | doi:10.1038/458407a; Published online 25 March 2009

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The phantom menace of gene patents

Sibylle Gaisser1, Michael M. Hopkins2, Kathleen Liddell3, Eleni Zika4 & Dolores Ibarreta4

  1. Sibylle Gaisser is at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, 48 Breslauer Street, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany
  2. Michael M. Hopkins is at SPRU: Science and Technology Policy Research, at the University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QE, UK
    Email: m.m.hopkins@sussex.ac.uk
  3. Kathleen Liddell is at the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK
  4. Eleni Zika and Dolores Ibarreta are at the European Commission Joint Research Center, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Edificio Expo, Inca Garcilaso, E-41092 Seville, Spain.

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In this, the second of two Commentaries, Sibylle Gaisser, Michael M. Hopkins and colleagues discuss a survey demonstrating that European health-care systems are ill prepared for the commercial reality of gene patents.

In 1998, the European Parliament passed a law that requires EU Member States to recognize isolated genes and nucleotide sequences as patentable inventions, further reiterating obligations under the European Patent Convention. Patents can also be granted for methods of genetic testing without claiming genes themselves, as illustrated by recent rulings of the European Patent Office Board of Appeal.