ABSTRACT
The aim of technology is not to render the natural energies available and instrumental, but rather to protect its products against their encroachments. In the process of examining the intellectual property issues raised by patent protection in biotechnologies, it is important to consider the social and ethical dimensions to concepts like 'life form' and 'living material'. Isolation renders genetic material potentially legally and philosophically outside the ethical and human rights arguments regarding the sovereignty and integrity of the body and the enslaving of individuals, to which this discussion now turns. The passage of the Biotechnology Directive met with opposition largely articulated upon the undesirability and immorality of proprietary rights being granted over material occurring in the natural environment. The Directive was introduced to clarify and harmonise legal protection and patentability of biotechnology-related inventions in the European Union, including inventions relating to human gene sequences and plant varieties.
