[Upd-discuss] patenting genes

[Alan Story]

Mickey is quite right. Under TRIPS Art. 27 3 a), TRIPS 
signatories can exclude "diagnostic, therepeutic and 
surgical methods for the treatment of humans or 
animals"...but they cannot exclude pharmaceuticals, which 
was the main point I was making about compulsory 
licenses. 

But then, again as Mickey mentions, S. 301 could come down 
on such countries with a thump on those countries who don't 
do things the U.S. way.  

Interestingly, when the U.S. Congress added subsection (c) 
to section 287 of the U.S. Patent Act which denied 
holders of patents and surgical procedures the 
right to sue medical practioners for the 
unauthorised use of these procedures in medical 
activities (meaning, failure/refusal to pay royalties), 
this protection against damages was only given to U.S. 
medical practioners and not those practicing medicine 
elsewhere. 

Cheers
Alan Story 



 

On Mon, 20 Mar 2000 10:08:49 -0500 "Michael H. Davis" 
<Michael.Davis@law.csuohio.edu> wrote:

----------------------
Alan Story
Kent Law School
Eliot College
University of Kent
Canterbury Kent UK
CT2 7NS
a.c.story@ukc.ac.uk
Ph. 01227 823316
Fax 01227 827831