Biotechnology, Technology Policy, and Patentability: Natural Products and Invention in the American System

Abstract

To understand how to shape United States patent law to further the development and dissemination of biotechnology, it is necessary to understand the nature of the American biotechnology enterprise as a scientific, governmental, and industrial whole. Publicly funded research still plays a dominant role in fostering the basic scientific and technological advances that drive biotechnology forward. Consequently, over-emphasis on patent protection risks displacing public sector values that have played key roles in biotechnology's development. Although patent law appears to have facilitated innovation by small firms, the importance of publicly funded research and public sector values suggests the desirability of robust enforcement of basic requirements for patentability, including that of utility.