ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out a model of participatory democracy which involves deliberation, epitomised by the participatory budget in Porto Alegre, Brazil whose principles can be adapted as a model for wide-scale deliberative participation. No such paradigm currently exists in patent practice, yet in the realm of morally controversial biotechnological patents, academics argue that deliberation and participation should be a feature of the decision-making process. The budgetary model will serve as a blueprint for a radical reimagination of the manner in which the patent system, at the decision-making stage as it relates to morally controversial biotechnological patents, currently operates in Europe.
