Patents on Life

Thomas C. Berg is James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy at the School of Law, University of St Thomas, Minnesota. He is a leading scholar of church-state relations and a leader in exploring the intersection of intellectual property, religion, and social ethics. Roman Cholij is Research Associate at the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry, St Edmund's College, Cambridge and a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney. He has written two books, several book chapters and numerous articles on various aspects of law and of theology. Simon Ravenscroft is the Arts Outreach Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge and a Research Associate of the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry at St. Edmund's College, University of Cambridge. He has published on a range of topics across the fields of theology, philosophy, and social theory.

1. Introduction Roman Cholij; Part I. Life Patents, Law, and Morality: 2. Morality, religion, and patents Kathleen Liddell and Simon Ravenscroft; 3. Religious and moral grounds for patent-eligible subject matter exclusions Joshua D. Sarnoff; 4. Life-form patents: proceedings in the European Patent Office and the role of non-commercial parties Christopher Rennie-Smith; Part II. Religious Perspectives on Life Patents: 5. Intellectual property rights and the fundamental right to the Commons in the light of Catholic social teaching Monsignor Osvaldo Neves de Almeiad; 6. Human rights and life patents: lessons from the Church's social teaching and engagement in the United States Stephen M. Colecchi; 7. Intellectual property and genetic sequences: a Jewish law perspective Michael J. Broyde and Steven S. Weiner; 8. Intellectual property, Islamic values, and the patenting of genes Mohammed El Said; 9. Christian libertarianism and the curious lack of religious objections to the patenting of life forms in the United States Paul J. Heald; 10. From 'Chakrabarty' to 'Myriad' and beyond: Catholic contributions to the gene patenting debate Paul J. Wodja; Part III. Social Justice and Political Aspects: 11. 'Thou shalt not steal': the morality of compulsory licensing of pharmaceutical patents Margo Bagley; 12. Genetic resources and patents: in search of ethical solutions to global IP discord Roman Cholij; 13. Patent for life: towards an ethical use of patents on plant innovations Michael A. Kock; 14. Germline modification of human embryos, patents and the limits of markets: rethinking equality, human diversity, and the question of innovation funding Katerina Sideri; 15. Patent governance, ethics, and democracy: how transparency and accountability norms are challenged by patents on stem cells, gametes, and genome editing (CRISPR) in Europe Ingrid Schneider; 16. Life patents, religion, and justice: a summary of themes Thomas C. Berg.