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EU Court Rules Against Stem Cell Patents For Research
LibRT writes with this excerpt from the BBC:
"Europe's highest court has ruled that stem cells from human embryos cannot be patented, in a case that could have major implications for medicine. ... The European Court of Justice said in a statement: 'The use of human embryos for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes which are applied to the human embryo and are useful to it is patentable. But their use for purposes of scientific research is not patentable.' It added: 'A process which involves removal of a stem cell from a human embryo at the blastocyst [early embryo] stage, entailing the destruction of that embryo, cannot be patented.'"
In conclusion, the Court holds that an invention is excluded from patentability where the implementation of the process requires either the prior destruction of human embryos or their prior use as base material, even if, in the patent application, the description of that process, as in the present case, does not refer to the use of human embryos.
.: Semper Absurda
The official press release is here. It is much more specific and easier to interpret than the BBC article, which is perfunctory as usual.
.: Semper Absurda
Nevertheless, the Court points out that the patentability of uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes is not prohibited under the Directive where it concerns the use for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes which are applied to the human embryo and which are useful to it – for example to correct a malformation and improve the chances of life.
.: Semper Absurda
The Eurozone and the EU are two different things. A collapse of the Eurozone is not a collapse of the EU.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
The patent system is broken and inhibits innovation. This decision may have had the effect of stimulating exactly the kind of life-saving research they were trying to block.
Quick, can we convince them that all science is of the devil so they'll scrap the patent system entirely? Donate to Fox and the Westboro Baptists if you have to.
Is this good for research in general? So that universities or research institutions don't get gouged with patent fees?
Or is this some kind of "moral" issue like the one we seem to have here in the US when it comes to anything to do with this subject?
My big question is can we ever truly socialize medicine in the Western societies? Will there always be big pharmaceutical corporations lurking around to get rich off of the human condition? Is greed the only driving factor of progress? While I am at it, I really feel that patenting genes of any kind is all kinds of wrong. Unless you altered a gene or found a way to repair it, as on a low level in the structure of it, I think it's arrogance at its finest to claim a patent on such things.
My case in point is how Monsanto patented life in their seeds, and now dominate the markets. Watch Food Inc. to get the gist of that nightmare. When it comes to patents of science, I don't trust them. Our systems are full of corruption that are too vulnerable to corporate influence. If it's not corruption, then its blatant ignorance and down right stupidity. I got a feeling as we advance in biotech science, we are going to be vulnerable to exploitation by some seriously bad elements that will capitalize on the "lawlessness of the frontier". This is how robber barons get established early on and we are never rid of their ilk, as their institutions, corporations and heirs continue to reap the benefits or just have an unfair head start on the competition, or a combination of both.
Multinational corporations can bypass our "moral" impediments here by doing their research in Europe. But can we trust Europe to keep an intelligent eye on them for the sake of all humanity? I would like to hope so, but....time will tell.
Take the Red Pill.
For non-american consumers of the english language, the subject line means: "Damn right, about time!"
Hopefully the sanity will spread in a viral sense internationally, as in to the US and other patent-tarded(tm) countries.
Red
Nice to see there are still some brain cells working in the EU.
-- Cheers!
That's an interesting technology. When it works we will have to use it on all politicians to remind them that they are there for their people and not for themselves.
-- Cheers!
This is one of those things. Here the broken patent system came together with religion and superstition and the outcome is not good for anyone. Embryos are now considered full human beings before the law, which will have detrimental repercussions in law everywhere (for example, abortion law). Research on the use of stem cells will be seriously delayed, if not halted altogether, and not because of the lack of patents (which would, if anything, spur innovation by removing legal risks).
There are a lot of therapies for serious illnesses that could be developed without these insane religious sensibilities. So much suffering for nothing.
In older days these kind of things would have been called "discovery" rather then "invention". I predict a future where people will claim to have invented math too. Oh wait, that would be software patents.
"X" and "a method for creating X" are two entirely different things.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'm appalled at the reaction of the scientists, one guy basically said "We get funded by the public to do the research but how are we supposed to monetize it without patents?".
This is not how I was brought up to believe science is supposed to be conducted.
You could also allow a technique which extract cells, and freezes/stores the embryo without actually explicitly destroying it as part of the procedure.
In short, the law is meaningless when it comes to corporate knowledge hoarding.
May the Maths Be with you!
A production process for a car can be patented, but not if you want to use the car for scientific research. Also, if the production process offends any one, sane or insane, then it is not patentable.
Arbitrary???
Patents are means to stimulate innovation, not stifle it!
assignment != equality != identity
BBC article was kinda eye opener how this old, corrupt system works in people minds - as long as you don't have monopoly for something, you wont invest in it. Even if competition will invest and will produce treatements. Even if you will go bancrupt because of such thinking.
This is usual "intellectual property" proponent's argument and have been struck down so many times. So why they return to it? Because it is just how they see it - everything in this world moves because of greed.
No matter how big EU problems are, some things really works by common sense here.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
As a scientist myself, I am somewhat shocked by Prof. Bruestle's statement: "European researchers may conduct basic research, which is then implemented elsewhere in medical procedures, which will eventually be reimported to Europe. How do I explain this to my students?"
Explain your student that this is what publicly funded research is meant for! When the method is not patented this means that everybody (yes, even in Europe) may implement it, and this is a good thing. And by the way: basic research was never meant to be patentable at all.
Quantitative easing - isn't that just another term for fiat money? The old generations understand fiat money. The youngsters probably don't understand just how worthless the dollar really is. Let's try this: your dollar isn't worth the paper, rags, and ink used to print it on! That dollar isn't backed by silver, gold, or even oil. It's nothing. It's ONLY value, is the faith that people have in the US Federal Reserve. And, that Fed is privately owned, by many of the same people who have been shipping jobs out of America to China for the past two decades!
Imagine that . . .
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Mind control. Yeah, right. If the EU had mind control, they'd have shared it with the US government by now. And, the mind controllers would have peacefully, casually, and invisibly herded all those "Occupy Wall Street" protesters into holding pens by now.
Like AC has already said - you link to videos that will take hours to watch. Interviews of people that no one has ever heard of. I'm going to waste my day watching videos of nobodies? No way, Jose. Especially so, since I'm more than 99.1% convinced that they are raging lunatics to start with!
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
If you re-read your comment while sober, you'll find out why it wasn't such a hot idea to post while being drunk AND stoned at the same time.
Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
No, the ruling is against techniques that destroy the embryo or require "their prior use as a base material."
.: Semper Absurda
No, that's not entirely correct. The country must have stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. The criteria are not clear cut however.
The ban on capital punishment is part of the European Convention on Human Rights. The convention is a membership requirement for the Council of Europe, an entirely separate body that predates the European Union.
It is generally understood that both membership of the CoE and ratification of the ECHR is a requirement for EU membership.