The European Union (EU) Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions required two legislative procedures to be adopted. The directive was intended to harmonize the laws of EU Member States regarding the patentability of biotechnological inventions, including plant varieties and human genes. Download high resolution version (1200x800, 13 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republic Croatia Cyprus Economy of Cyprus Economy of the Czech Republic Council of Europe Economy of Denmark Drachma European Union Estonia Euro European Parliament Talk:European Union European Free Alliance... The legislative acts of the European Union (EU) can have different forms: regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions. ... Corruption Jurisprudence Philosophy of law Law (principle) List of legal abbreviations Legal code Intent Letter versus Spirit Natural Justice Natural law Religious law Witness intimidation Legal research Critical legal studies External links Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Law Look up law in Wiktionary, the free dictionary... Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable or, in other words, it satisfies the patentability requirements if it meets the legal conditions to be granted a patent. ... Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. ... In lay terms, an invention is a novel device, material, or technique. ... This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ...

The original proposal was adopted by the European Commission in 1988. The procedure for its adoption was slowed down by primarily ethical issues regarding the patentability of living matter. The European Parliament eventually rejected the joint text from the final Conciliation meeting at 3rd reading on March 1 1995 so the first directive process did not yield a directive [1]. The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive of the European Union. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ethics is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong. ... The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute (including future interest disputes) agree to utilize the services of a conciliator, who then meets with the parties separately in an attempt to resolve their differences. ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ...

On December 13, 1995, the Commission adopted a new proposal was nearly identical to the rejected version, was changed again, but the Parliament put aside its ethical concerns on patenting of human genes in on July 12, 1998 in its second reading and adopted the Common Position of the Council, so in the second legislative process, the directive was adopted [2] [3]. The drafts person of the Parliament for this second procedure was Willi Rothley and the vote with the most yes votes was Amendment 9 from the Greens which got 221 against 294 votes out of 532 members voting with 17 abstentions but 314 yes votes would have been required to reach the required an absolute majority to adopt it. December 13 is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or substance (known as an invention) which is new, inventive and useful. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Council of the European Union forms, along with the European Parliament, the legislative arm of the European Union (EU). ...

On July 6, 1998, a final version was adopted. Its code is 98/44/EC. July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ...

The Kingdom of the Netherlands brought Case C-377/98[4] before the European Court of Justice against the adoption of the directive with six different pleas but the Court granted none of them. European Court of Justice The ECJ should not be mistaken for the European Court of Human Rights, a Council of Europe institution. ...

On January 14, 2002, the Commission submitted an assessment of the implications for basic genetic engineering research of failure to publish, or late publication of, papers on subjects which could be patentable as required under Article 16(b) of this directive [5]. January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Final version of the directive 98/44/EC
• Commission of the European Communities, Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Development and implications of patent law in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering (SEC(2005) 943), Brussels, July 14, 2005 (established pursuant to Art. 16c of the directive)

See also

• Codecision procedure
• Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions
• Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights

The codecision procedure is the main legislative procedure by which law can be adopted in the European Community, the first of the three pillars of the European Union. ... The European Union (EU) Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions (2002/0047/COD) was a proposal for an EU law which aimed to harmonise EU national patent laws and practices, which involved the granting of patents for computer-implemented inventions provided they meet certain criteria. ... The European Union directive on measures and procedures to ensure the enforcement of intellectual property rights was formally adopted on April 29, 2004 in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, two days before the enlargement of the European Union to 25 member states. ...

External links

• Short summary of the Commission (Scadplus)
• FAQ from the Directionate General for the internal Market
• The Directionate's page about its laws on biological inventions

• comprehensive paper by an LLM Candidate at Cornell University
• The UK Patent Office on the directive
• Biological inventions at the EPO
• Paper from the IPR Helpdesk