Life Sciences Newsletter No. 5

This decision of the EBoA generated a remarkable number of criticisms. Of particular relevance in this respect is the European Parliament resolution of 17 December 2015 on patents and plant breeders’ rights (Resolution 2015/2981 (RSP)), in which it calls on the Commission as a matter of urgency, to clarify the scope and interpretation of Directive 98/44/EC «in order to ensure legal clarity regarding the prohibition of the patentability of products obtained from essentially biological processes, and to clarify that breeding with biological material falling under the scope of a patent is permitted». And calls on the Commission to «communicate its forthcoming clarification regarding the patentability of products obtained from essentially biological processes to the EPO so that it can be used as a supplementary means of interpretation»…