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Embryonic stem cell patents A legal and ethical
analysis focussing on human dignity,
commodification and moral complicity By Prof.
Sigrid Sterckx Organised by LSTS In November
2008 the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the
European Patent Office refused a patent
application on human embryonic stem cells filed
by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
(WARF). The key legal provisions of the European
Patent Convention (EPC) at issue in this case
were Rule 28(c) EPC, which forbids the granting
of patents in respect of biotechnological
inventions which concern uses of human embryos
for industrial or commercial purposes, and
Article 53(a) EPC, the morality provision of the
EPC, which provides that no patents can be
obtained for inventions of which the commercial
exploitation would contravene the ordre public
or morality. Even though at the oral hearing
before the Board, both WARF and the President of
the European Patent Office identified the
question whether the morality provision
constituted a barrier to patentability as the
core issue in this case, the Board astonishingly
decided that this question did not need
answering. In this talk we will analyse this
decision. This will involve investigating the
role and meaning of the concepts of human
dignity and commodification in the decision.
We will also comment on the relevance of moral
complicity to the question of patentability in
general and the question of patentability of
human embryonic stem cells in particular. Sigrid
Sterckx is a Professor of Ethics and Senior
Research Fellow of the Fund for Scientific
Research Flanders, associated to the Department
of Philosophy Moral Science of Ghent
University, Belgium. She is also a Professor of
Ethics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels
Faculty of Medicine Pharmaceutical Sciences and
Faculty of Arts Philosophy. She teaches courses
in Ethics, Bioethics and Medical Ethics. Sigrid
Sterckx serves on several advisory committees,
including the Belgian National Advisory Council
on Bioethics. Her dissertation investigated the
ethical justification of patents. Her
publications include Biotechnology, Patents and
Morality (Ashgate) and numerous book chapters and
articles issues including the impact of patents
on access to medicines and the patentability of
human embryonic stem cells. Sigrid Sterckx is a
member of LSTS. Where Vrije Universiteit
Brussel, building B, room 4B323 When Tuesday
January 19th 2010 from 12u30 till 14u00
Dinsdag 19 januari 2009 12.30 14.00

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