The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice . For example, there have been questions raised as to how the Directive affects access to the human genome data and possible restrictions on the research and applications for which this data could be used.
Patents provide an incentive to innovation.
Without the safeguard provided by patents, industry and other inventors would be unwilling to invest their time and money in research and development. This applies to biotechnology as well as any other area of technology. Indeed given the considerable amount of high risk investment that is often required in the area of biotechnology, particularly in the field of genetic engineering, adequate patent protection is even more essential to encourage the investment required to create jobs and maintain the European Union's competitiveness in this crucial field. Much consideration was given during those discussions to the ethical aspects of biotechnological inventions. The resulting Directive both addresses these ethical aspects and provides the necessary incentives to encourage the research and development.