Overview

Biomedical patents have been the subject of heated debate. Regulatory agencies such as the European Patent Office make small decisions with big implications, which escape scrutiny and revision, when they decide who has access to expensive diagnostic tests, whether human embryonic stem cells can be traded in markets, and under what circumstances human health is more important than animal welfare. Moreover, the administration of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights by the World Trade Organization has raised considerable disquiet as it has arguably created grave health inequities. Those doubting the merits of the one size fits all approach ask whether priority should be given to serving the present needs of populations in dire need of medication or to promoting global innovation. The book looks in detail into the legal issues and ethical debates to ask the following three main questions: First, what are the ideas, goals, and broader ethical visions that underpin questions of governance and the legal reasoning employed by administrative agencies? Second, how can we democratize the decision making process of technocratic institutions such as the European Patent Office? Finally, how can we make the global intellectual property system more equitable? In answering these questions the book seeks to contribute to our understanding of the role and function of regulatory agencies in the regulation of the bioeconomy, explains the process of interpretation of legal norms, and proposes ways to rethink the reform of the patent system through the lens of legitimacy.

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9781138642805

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Reviews

'Patenting in the life sciences is a controversial area of law and policy with implications for health and human society more generally. This highly original, erudite and insightful book identifies the issues that should really concern us, and suggests ways to resolve them that policymakers and scholars across a range of social science disciplines would do well to heed.' Graham Dutfield, University of Leeds, UK 'In this book, Katerina Sideri engages with a cluster of some of the most pressing social and ethical issues of our time concerning the appropriate role and limits of technological innovation. Sideri argues, rightly in my view, that more attention needs to be paid to the potential role of institutions, such as patents, in reinforcing key ethical understandings about human behaviour, wellbeing, and the value of knowledge. This is an important book that will be of great interest to anyone concerned with questions about the appropriate future role of biotechnology and of scientific innovation more broadly.' Michael Parker, University of Oxford, UK

Author Information

Dr Katerina Sideri is currently lecturing at The Open University, Greece. During the writing of the book she was Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford. Her research interests are in the areas of: Deliberative Governance; Bioethics; Intellectual Property Law and Policy, Biomedical and Biotechnology Patents, Behaviour and Functions of Administrative Agencies. She has published widely on these and related areas.

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