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Canadian Team Takes Lead in Biotechnology Patent Policy
A team of researchers led by McGill Faculty of Law Professor E. Richard Gold has taken the lead in an international effort to analyse and suggest reform to patent regimes and licensing practices relating to health and agricultural biotechnology. Dean of the Faculty of Law, Nicholas Kasirer, announced today that Gold and his team has obtained a 3 million dollar grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to carry out this research.
Robert Cook-Deegan, Director of the Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy at Duke University in the United States, noted: "This grant from SSHRC demonstrates Canada's leadership in international discussions about intellectual property and biotechnology. We are delighted to be partners in this effort, and we hope to collaborate with Canada's leading researchers. The Canadian government has consistently been ahead of the US Government in grasping the long-term significance of intellectual property policy issues related to biotechnology, and this is further evidence of that trend."
Gold, holder of the Bell Chair in e-Governance at the Faculty and first Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy (CIPP), discussed the critical importance of reviewing patent laws to reflect the contemporary needs of Canadian industry and society. Gold stated: "Our research will permit Canadians to retool century old patent regimes to face the realities of modern biotechnology. The project will permit Canadian policy-makers and industry to adapt current laws and practices to better harness the benefits of biotechnology for Canada. Our researchers will work actively with governmental, non-governmental and industrial communities on the project."
The grant funds a research project that will critically examine existing intellectual property regimes relating to biotechnological innovation in the health and agricultural sectors. During its 4 year term, the project will suggest ways to improve current patent regimes as well as to propose other alternative methods to encourage innovation for the betterment of Canada and other nations. In doing so, the project brings major Canadian and foreign researchers in over a dozen disciplines together with partner agencies, governmental bodies and research institutions from around the world.
The project also offers substantial benefits to the developing world. In this regard, Dr. Peter Singer, Director of the University of Toronto's Joint Centre for Bioethics, had this to say today: "Biotechnology promises to be of fundamental importance to the health, economy and social structures within developing nations. This project's aim at providing better ways of implementing intellectual property regimes within these countries is of extreme importance in permitting low and middle income countries to benefit from biotechnology."
This project builds on the work of the Intellectual Property Modeling Group (IPMG), a research group formed two years ago by Professor Gold with experts in law, economics, management, political science and philosophy.
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