Biotechnology IP & Ethics

Biotechnology: Walking the Tightrope Between IP and Ethics

Biotechnology has become one of the most vital sectors of the economy, responsible for countless breakthroughs in medicine and agriculture. As this area has continued to grow-often sparking controversy along the way-lawyers and policy makers have been forced to play catch up, grappling to understand how intellectual property faces with ethical issues within the context of biotechnology.

Professors Gold and Knoppers, with their combined wealth of expertise and experience in intellectual property policy, biotechnology and ethics, have tackled these issues in Biotechnology IP&; Ethics, a new book from Butterworths. The result is an indispensable guide that provides practitioners context for the multiple biotechnology-related issues they face.

Features and Benefits

Packed with expert commentary from a wide variety of scholars and lawyers working in the intellectual property field, Biotechnology IP&; Ethics fills a gaping need in the market, arming practitioners and policy makers with the tools needed to present better legal arguments and provide more sound advice within this controversial industry, including:

• Expert analysis - in-depth coverage of biotechnology, both within Canada and internationally, including discussions on current controversies, such as stem cell research and access to medicine, where intellectual property can be at odds with ethical concerns
• Single source research - practitioners may now avail, within a single source, opinions and commentary that were previously only accessible from countless academic journal articles and international reports
• Relevant case studies and case law - examples from both practical applications and case law are employed to help illustrate key points for the reader

Providing Context to the Controversy

A forward-looking publication, this book will help readers come to grips with the direction of biotechnology and intellectual property, while understanding the ethical issues currently faced and those still to come. Readers will gain a clearer grasp of a full range of issues, including:

• The application of intellectual property law within biotechnology
• The use of patented inventions such as research tools and DNA sequences by researchers
• How to address ethical concerns through the employment of suitable intellectual property management strategies
• How biotechnology may be able to deal with health and food challenges in developing nations and how biotechnology IP factors into this discussion
• The impact of biotechnology IP and ethical issues on the health care sector

A Perfect Solution For

• IP practitioners and professors - who need to understand how ethical concerns can create major problems when obtaining or licensing intellectual property
• Property practitioners and professors - who must deal with a biotechnology sector that not only focuses on patents and other intellectual property, but also rights in cells which fall under the rubric of property law
• Ethics departments and review committees - who seek the requisite background information on IP and an understanding of how ethics and biotechnology intersect in relation to IP
• Health law practitioners - who are dealing with issues such as access to medicine and providing services at a time when an increasing amount of health related innovations are covered by intellectual property