Alternative approaches to the Harvard mouse case.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 56
ISBN-13: 9780494212059
Description: The Harvard mouse patent establishes an exclusive right over a genetically modified non-human mammal. In this thesis, I will first provide an overview of the ethical and policy arguments invoked in the context of the debate over patenting of higher life forms. I will then analyze how, practically, the interests at stake have been differently weighed at the international level. Particular attention will be devoted to the Supreme Court of Canada landmark cases: Harvard (2002) and Monsanto (2004). In Canada higher life forms are not patentable but may achieve a nearly identical legal protection as if they were patented. There can be some doubts about the consistency of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision not to allow patents on higher life forms for ethical reasons while, at the same time, to grant a patent on something that does not present moral concerns but that,  de facto, gives similar market power.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, page: 1277.

Thesis (LL.M.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

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