Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Whose knowledge? What values? The comparative politics of patenting life forms in the United States and Europe

  • Published:
Policy Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Over the past few decades, a variety of groups have begun to argue that the US and European patent systems do not adequately represent the public interest in their decision making and that they need to undergo fundamental changes to their structure and orientation. These challengers have adopted similar strategies—in terms of the venues chosen and the arguments, evidence, and rhetoric used—in each context. However, they have experienced more success in Europe than in the United States. This paper begins to explain this difference by arguing that the US and European patent policy domains have different “expertise barriers”—formal and informal rules that make it difficult for those without the knowledge that is recognized as relevant and legitimate in that domain to engage as equals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In particular, I interviewed: (1) current and former personnel at the PTO and the EPO, including those involved in public relations and communication, mid- and high-level management, examination in controversial areas including biotechnology and traditional knowledge, patent law interpretation, and patent search activities; (2) advocacy groups involved in challenging the patent systems in the US and Europe and the patent lawyers who represent them; (3) scholars (including legal scholars) involved in debates about patent policy in the US and Europe; and (4) companies and industrial lobbying organizations involved in patent policy debates in the US and Europe. In order to determine who to interview, I began by identifying—through analysis of relevant media sources, websites, patent office proceedings, and legislative hearings, among other things—all of the individuals who might be relevant to my study. After making contact with these individuals, I was able to interview the vast majority of them. I then used a snowball sampling methodology (asking these interviewees about additional contacts) to identify additional interviewees. Again, I continued to snowball sample until I had interviewed (or tried to interview) everyone who was suggested. In sum, I interviewed: 27 stakeholders, 21 patent lawyers and scholars, and 58 current and former patent office officials.

References

  • Adelman, M. J. (1986). The new world of patents created by the court of appeals for the federal circuit. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 20, 979–1008.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Anti-Vivisection Society, International Center for Technology Assessment, and Alternatives Research & Development Foundation. (2007). Re US patent no. US-6,924,413-B2, inter-partes re-examination, March 23.

  • Animal Legal Defense Fund et al. vs. Quigg. (1990). US court of appeals, 9th circuit. No. 89-15129.

  • American Patent Law Association. (1979). Brief on Behalf of the American Patent Law Association, Amicus Curiae, In the Supreme Court of the United States, Sidney A Diamond vs. Ananda M Chakrabarty. No. 79–136.

  • Bagley, M. (2007). A global controversy: The role of morality in biotechnology patent law. University of Virginia Law School Public Law and Legal Theory working paper series, paper 57.

  • Bayrak, S. (2007, July–August 15). Ethical issues in engineering and science. EPO gazette. Munich, Germany: European Patent Office.

  • Bearden, T. (2005 July). Extended interview: Stuart Newman. Newshour with Jim Lehrer.

  • Benjamin, S. M., & Rai, A. (2008). Fixing innovation policy: A structural perspective. George Washington Law Review, 77(1), 1–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and Compassion in World Farming. (1993). Opposition under part V of the European patent convention to the grant of a patent for the Oncomouse to the president and fellows of Harvard college [in Oncomouse Patent Prosecution, EP0169672].

  • Brown, P., Zavestoski, S., McCormick, S., Mayer, B., Morello-Frosch, R., & Altman, R. G. (2004). Embodied health movements: New approaches to social movements in health. Sociology of Health & Illness, 26(1), 50–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busbey, H., Hervey, T. K., & Mohr, A. (2008). Ethical EU law? The influence of the European group on ethics in science and new technologies. European Law Review, 33(6), 803–842.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, D. P. (2007). Robust action and the strategic use of ambiguity in a bureaucratic cohort: FDA officers and the evolution of new drug regulations, 1950–1970. In S. Skowronek & M. Glassman (Eds.), Formative acts: American politics in the making. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Church of Scotland Science, Religion, and Technology Project. (1997). Churches challenge European parliament on patenting life. http://webzone1.co.uk/www/srtproject/meppat.htm. Accessed 19 May 1998.

  • Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe. (1949). Creation of a European patents office: Recommendation to the committee of ministers. Doc 110, 8 September.

  • Coughlin, S. M. (2006). The Newman application and the PTO’s unnecessary response—Patentability of humans and human embryos. Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property, 5, 90–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coyne, P., & Crouch, D. (1999). Amendment and response. Patent application no. 08/993,564.

  • Crouch, D., & Coyne, P. (1999). Final rejection. Patent application no. 08/993,564.

  • Diamond vs. Chakrabarty. (1980). 447 US 303.

  • Dinham, B., Pesticides Trust, et al., & Stevenson, P., Compassion in World Farming et al. (1997, July 24). Suggested plans for meeting with John Battle MP.

  • Dowie, M. (2004). Gods and monsters. Mother Jones.

  • Drahos, P. (1999). Biotechnology patents, markets, and morality. European Intellectual Property Review, 21(9), 441–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drahos, P. (2010). The global governance of knowledge: Patent offices and their clients. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, J. (2000). The FCC and the patent system: Progressive ideals, jacksonian realism, and the technology of regulation. University of Colorado Law Review, 71, 1071.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmott, S. (2001). No patents on life: the incredible ten-year campaign against the European patent directive. In B. Tokar (Ed.), Redesigning life? The worldwide challenge to genetic engineering. New York: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • EPO Employee a. (2008). Personal interview.

  • EPO Employee c. (2008). Personal interview.

  • EPO Employee d. (2008). Personal interview.

  • EPO Employee e. (2008). Personal interview.

  • EPO Employee f. (2009). Personal interview.

  • Epstein, S. (1996). Impure science: AIDS, activism, and the politics of knowledge. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Parliament Council. (1998). Directive 98/44/EC of the European parliament and of the council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. Official Journal, L213, 13–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Patent Convention. (1973). Adopted 5 October 1973, entered into force 7 October 1977.

  • European Patent Office. (1993a). Facts and submissions [in European PGS patent prosecution, EP0122791].

  • European Patent Office. (1993b). Grounds for the decision [in European PGS patent prosecution, EP0122791].

  • European Patent Office. (2002). Opposition hearing on genetic stem-cell patent at the European patent office. Press release. http://www.epo.org/about-us/press/releases/archive/2002/18972002.html. Accessed 17 June 2009.

  • European Patent Office. (2003a). Interlocutory decision in opposition proceedings (Article 106(3) EPC) [in European Oncomouse Patent Prosecution, EP0169672].

  • European Patent Office. (2003b). Hintergrundinfromationen zum ‘Öl-Mais’-patent. Fact sheet. Munich: European Patent Office.

  • European Patent Office. (2007a). Scenarios for the future. Vienna: European Patent Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Patent Office. (2007b). European patent forum, 18 and 19 April 2007 in Munich. Press release. http://www.epo.org/about-us/press/releases/archive/2007/20070417.html. Accessed 22 April 2009.

  • European Patent Office. (2009). EPO—The administrative council of the European patent organisation. Website. http://www.epo.org/about-us/epo/administrative-council.html. Accessed 24 December 2009.

  • Evangelischen Stadtkirchenverbandes Köln. (1993). Einspruch gegen das Europäische patent 0169672 [in EPO Oncomouse Patent Prosecution EP0169672].

  • Falcone, J.A., Group Director, to TC 2800 Managers. (2006). Reminder on TC2800 guidelines for sensitive application warning system (SAWS) program reminder.

  • Feldman, M. S., Khademian, A. M., Ingram, H., & Schneider, A. S. (2006). Ways of knowing and inclusive management practices. Public Administration Review, 66, 89–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Global 2000, & Kein Patent Auf Leben. (1997, May 25). Directive “legal protection of biotechnological inventions”, Munich/Brussels.

  • Graham, S., Hall, B., Harhoff, D., & Mowery, D. (2002). Post-issue patent ‘quality control’: A comparative study of US patent re-examinations and European patent oppositions. NBER working paper no. W8807.

  • Grain and Gen-ethisches Netzwerk to Europäisches Patentamt. (1990). Einspruch durch Dritte nach Artikel 115 [in Oncomouse Patent Prosecution, EP0169672].

  • Greene, J. (1999). He’s not just monkeying around. Legal Times, pp. 16–20, 24–25.

  • Greenpeace. (2001). Greenpeace and Misereor challenge DuPont Biopiracy patent. Press release.

  • Heller, M. A., & Eisenberg, R. S. (1998). Can patents deter innovation? The Anticommons in biomedical research. Science, 280(5464), 698–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, D. (2007). Alternative pathways in science and industry: Activism. innovation, and the environment in an era of globalization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasanoff, S. (2007). Designs on nature: Science and democracy in Europe and the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, P. H., Palangkaraya, A., & Webster, E. (2005). Patent application outcomes across the trilateral patent offices. Melbourne Institute working paper no. 5/05.

  • Kadidal, S. (1996). Subject-matter imperialism? Biodiversity, foreign prior art and the neem patent controversy. IDEA: The Intellectual Property Law Review, 37, 371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karet, B. (1992). Patents and ethics in the context of modern technology. EPO gazette (pp. 13–17). Munich, Germany: European Patent Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kein Patent Auf Leben. (2010). Kein patent Auf Leben! http://www.keinpatent.de/.

  • Khan, B. Z. (2005). The democratization of invention: Patents and copyrights in American economic development, 1790–1920. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koechlin, F., & Schenkelaars, P., European Network of No Patents on Life. (1993). Einspruch gegen das Europäisches Patent 0169672 [in EPO Oncomouse Patent Prosecution EP0169672].

  • Küng, V. (1995). Gutachten zur Bedeutung der Harvard-Onkomaus für die Krebsforschung und zur Reproduzierbarkeit des patentierten Verfahrens im Auftrag des Vereins Keine Patente auf Leben [in EPO Oncomouse Patent Prosecution EP0169672].

  • Levidow, L., Carr, S., & Wield, D. (2005). European union regulation of agri-biotechnology: Precautionary links between science, expertise, and policy. Science and Public Policy, 32(4), 261–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie, J. (1998). A closer look. World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. ABC News, April 2.

  • Merz, J. F., & Pace, N. M. (1994). Trends in patent litigation: The apparent influence of strengthened patents attributable to the court of appeals for the federal circuit. Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society, 76, 579–590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, S. (1997). Chimeric embryo and animals containing human cells. Patent application no. 08/993,564.

  • O’Neill, M. (1997). Green parties and political change in contemporary Europe: New politics, old predicaments. Brookfield: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osterwalder, R. (2007). European patent forum, 18 and 19 April 2007 in Munich. Press release. Munich, Germany: European Patent Office.

  • Ottinger, G. (1993). Patente auf Lebewesen und Gene. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. July 14, N1.

  • Ottinger, G. (2010). Buckets of resistance: Standards and the effectiveness of citizen science. Science, Technology, and Human Values, 35(2), 244–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parthasarathy, S. (2007). Building genetic medicine: Breast cancer, technology, and the comparative politics of health care. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parthasarathy, S. (2010). Breaking the expertise barrier: Understanding activist strategies in science and technology policy domains. Science and Public Policy, 37(5), 355–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • People’s Business Commission. (1980). Brief on behalf of the people’s business commission, Amicus Curiae. In the Supreme Court of the United States, Sidney A. Diamond vs. Ananda M. Chakrabarty. No. 79–136.

  • Plomer, A. (2008). The European group on ethics: Law, politics, and the limits of moral integration in Europe. European Law Journal, 14(6), 839–859.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pralle, S. (2006). Branching out, digging. In Environmental advocacy and agenda setting. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

  • PTO Employee a. (2009). Personal interview.

  • PTO Employee d. (2009). Personal interview.

  • PTO Employee g. (2008). Personal interview.

  • Public Patent Foundation. (2006a). PubPat challenges Monsanto patents being used to bankrupt American farmers: Patent office asked to review and revoke agricultural giant’s widely asserted patents. http://www.pubpat.org/monsantofiled.htm. Accessed 10 February 2010.

  • Public Patent Foundation. (2006b). Groups challenge stem cell patents that loot taxpayer funds and force research overseas. http://www.pubpat.org/warfstemcellsfiled.htm Accessed 13 October 2010.

  • Public Patent Foundation. (2010). Patent on human embryonic stem cells rejected after consumer groups’ appeal. http://www.pubpat.org/stemcellbpaidecision.htm. Accessed 13 October 2010.

  • Quigg, D. J. (1987). Animals—Patentability. Official Gazette, Vol. 1077, p. 24.

  • Sabatier, P. (Ed.). (2007). Theories of the policy process. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlager, E. (2007). A comparison of frameworks, theories, and models of the policy process. In P. Sabatier (Ed.), Theories of the policy process (pp. 293–320). Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, K. (1987). Patenting life: US policy decision sets off a debate over morals and lure of vast profits. The New York Times, A1.

  • Schneider, K. (1988). Harvard gets mouse patent, a world first. The New York Times, April 12.

  • Schneider, I. (2009). The evolution of a ‘european mode’ of patent governance: Legislation on the patenting of biotechnology in the European Union and Germany. In J.-P. Gaudillière, D. J. Kevles, & H.-J. Rheinberger (Eds.), Living properties: Making knowledge and controlling ownership in the history of biology (pp. 187–223). Berlin, Germany: Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shorthouse, A. J., et al. (1980). The human tumour xenograft—A valid model in experimental chemotherapy? British Journal of Surgery, 67, 715–722.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swanson, K. W. (2009). The emergence of the professional patent practitioner. Technology and Culture, 50, 519–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Then, C., & Dr. to Europäische Patentamt. (2001). Betrifft. Patent EP 169 672, Anhörung am 6. November 2001 [in EPO Oncomouse Patent Prosecution EP0169672].

  • Tickner, J. A., & Wright, S. (2003). The precautionary principle and democratizing expertise: A US perspective. Science and Public Policy, 30(3), 213–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilly, C., & Tarrow, S. (2006). Contentious politics. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice. (1988). Patents and the constitution: Transgenic animals. 100th Congress, 1st session. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Hearing on June 11, July 22, August 21, and November 5, 1987.

  • United States Patent and Trademark Office. (1998). Facts on patenting life forms having a relationship to humans. Media Advisory, 98-6.

  • Vogel, D. (2004). The new politics of risk regulation in Europe and the US. In M. Levin & M. Shapiro (Eds.), Trans-atlantic policymaking in an age of austerity. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, R. 1998. Patent sought on making of part-human creatures. Washington Post, April 2, A12.

  • Women’s Environmental Network Representative. (2007). Personal interview.

  • Yanow, D. (2009). Ways of knowing: Passionate humility and reflective practice in research in management. American Review of Public Administration, 29, 579–601.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zwerdling, D. (1998). Humanimals: Weekend all things considered. National Public Radio, April 5.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Shobita Parthasarathy

Authors
  1. Shobita Parthasarathy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shobita Parthasarathy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Parthasarathy, S. Whose knowledge? What values? The comparative politics of patenting life forms in the United States and Europe. Policy Sci 44, 267–288 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-011-9133-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-011-9133-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation