ABSTRACT
In 1988 the first mammal, the so-called Oncomouse, was patented in the United States. A parallel expansion of patenting practises occurred with only slight delay in Europe. The basis for granting patents in Europe is the European Patent Convention (EPC). The jurisdiction of the EPC thus exceeds that of the European Union. According to the EPC, patents are, in principle, issued for inventions. Modern patent law is a compromise between inventors' interests in wide-ranging monopoly rights and the interests of society as a whole, which in return expects contributions to enhance its overall well-being. The fact that animals and plants are emphatically distinguished from man-made things can be traced backed to antiquity. This tradition cannot be simply explained with technical reasoning. Granting patents to animals, especially agriculturally useful animals, can endanger the public good in fields including the food industry, agriculture and animal breeding.
