Patenting of Biological and Micro-Biological Organisms

As biotechnology has developed in the last 20 years, the subject-matter of the patents generated has evolved from protein sequences or DNA fragments to patents on living organisms including viruses, bacteria, plants and animals. Apart from the ethical and political problems involved with such a subject-matter, more technical problems have arisen in relation to the interpretation and scope of such patent claims. This paper has been divided in thee parts, in the first part the author deal with the historical development of the patent laws and as to how the scope of patent law has broadened over years. In the second part, the author will analyze the exception of 'essential biological process' as has been provided in various jurisdictions. Lastly, the third part will be the concluding part wherein the author will be concluding as to whether such an exemption in the patent laws should exist or not and whether it is a restriction on the development of biotechnological inventions