Patenting Life

Patenting Life: Commodification, the Patent Regime, and the Public Interest

This paper will look at bioinformatics and the various ethical issues raised by the patenting of life forms. Debates over life patents, specifically the 2002 Canadian Supreme Court decision which ruled against patenting the OncoMouse®, highlight how technological discourses on science and technology are inextricably integrated with prevailing economic discourses. The paper will also critique the creation of a patent regime which has privatized public knowledge and resources, and its institutionalization through the World Trade OrganizationÂ’s TRIPS Â- the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property RightsÂ-and the tensions inherent when power is vested in the hands of corporations and public goods become transmogrified into private commodities.

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Inspired by the excellent CAUT conference on Controlling Intellectual Property - The Academic Community and the Future of Knowledg

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