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Intellectual property in the natural sciences

Tomasz J. Twardowski 

Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Noskowskiego 12, Poznań 61-704, Poland

Abstract

Along the road from a scientific discovery, through the invention and production processes, up to and including the consumer, one should always keep patents in mind. This stems from the crucial fact that the investment involved in the implementation of a new invention requires the simultaneous delineation of intellectual property rights. Regardless of our personal views on the matter, patenting is a common practice in the natural sciences worldwide and cannot be ignored. In relation to the natural sciences, the total sum of their positive and negative aspects is reflected in modern biotechnology. Its intensive development is the result of effective collaboration between various disciplines: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, genetics, the technical sciences, agriculture, medicine and pharmacology and many others. Law is increasingly important among those not mentioned, and with it arises the necessity of cooperation between the natural scientists and lawyers. This cooperation requires the breaking of many barriers, including nomenclature and conceptual schemes. Nevertheless, only through the acquaintance with legal terminology can scientists communicate with lawyers so as to teach them molecular and technological fundamentals of modern solutions in the natural sciences. Lawyers must themselves understand the terminology and conceptual paradigm of the natural sciences.

Polish regulations pertaining to intellectual property rights are contained in the act entitled “Industrial property law” (June 30, 2000; Journal of Acts. 2003, No. 119, Par. 1117, with subsequent modifications). This legal norm is in accordance with the regulations of the European Union and the Munich Convention, and makes it possible to patent both a process and a product. The realisation of the patent process, however, meets many obstacles . It is also very long and costly when one makes applications in several countries. Polish patent legislation has been modified with an amendment pertaining specifically to biotechnological inventions extended patent protection to live organisms and their fragments. It should be underscored that the use of patented solutions in research and teaching applications so as to exclude commercialisation does not infringe patent rights.
 

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Presentation: Wykład plenarny at Zjazd Polskiego Towarzystwa Biochemicznego, Sesja plenarna, by Tomasz J. Twardowski
See On-line Journal of Zjazd Polskiego Towarzystwa Biochemicznego

Submitted: 2007-05-24 23:02
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:44