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The German arm of the environmental lobby group Greenpeace is disputing a patent awarded earlier this year to a leading researcher on the grounds that it allows the commercial exploitation of human stem cells.
The organization filed a notice of opposition with the German Patent Office on Wednesday (October 20) against a patent granted in May to Oliver Brüstle from the University of Bonn. The patent covers a cell culture method related to a process for deriving neural cells from embryonic stem cells.
"Researchers do not need to file a patent," Greenpeace stem cell expert Christoph Then told The Scientist. "People who file a patent do so because they see business opportunities, but the commercial exploitation of human embryonic stem cells is banned."
Greenpeace believes the outcome of the case could have major implications for patent law both in Germany and in Europe. "It will be the first time that such a case has been dealt with by a German court, and we want to clarify what can and what cannot be patented once and for all," Then said.
The battle between Brüstle and the environmental group has been simmering since 1999, when the researcher was first awarded a patent by the German Patent Office. The original patent was filed using a loophole in patent law that was subsequently closed following a legal challenge by Greenpeace, causing the patent to be revoked.
Brüstle subsequently substantially modified his original patent application, and in May of this year the European Patent Office granted it, with added restrictions that ban any step in the method involving the destruction of human embryos.
Brüstle told The Scientist that the process described in the current patent did not infringe current ethical or legal norms. "The patented procedure starts with existing cell lines and does not include cloning or the derivation of embryonic stem cells from embryos," he said. "I have the impression that Greenpeace is not up to date on the situation."
"This is yet another attempt to block one of the most promising fields in biomedicine by threatening individual researchers," Brüstle said. "Germany can be a frustrating place to do this kind of research."
Greenpeace's Then argued that European patent legislation was riddled with loopholes that allowed the commercial exploitation of human embryos and that these too needed to be closed. "European patent law must ensure that the commercialization of human embryos is clearly forbidden," he said.
He rejected the criticism that Greenpeace was targeting Brüstle as an individual. "We are opposed to the patent, and the owner of the patent is Brüstle. It is not about him as an individual or even about his research. We have offered to settle this out of court, but have not had a response from Brüstle."
Brüstle was the first researcher in Germany to receive a license to import human embryonic stem cells for research purposes.
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