Lifeform Patents: the high and the low

The mystery of life has brought wonderment to humankind for a long time, and the ability to alter the genetic makeup of organisms has further complicated the capacity to make ethical and policy decisions that rely on categorising ‘lifeforms’. One of the challenges facing jurisdictions worldwide is the appropriate governance of inventions in the realm of biotechnology. There has been some confusion as to managing regulation of the many forms that this rapidly changing technology is taking, and at which points policy intervention should take place. The focus of this paper is on patents on lifeforms, and where the state could best intervene when it is regulating ownership of patents on living materials.