Word: patents
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...case deals directly with the heart of the patent code: the definition of the word invention itself...
...Canadian Patent Act of 1869 defines an invention as "any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter" that is new, useful and isn't obvious. Over the years the oncomouse case has revolved around whether animals should be considered "compositions of matter," "manufactures" or both...
...language of patent law is broad and general and is to be given wide scope because inventions are, necessarily, unanticipated and unforeseeable," Rothstein wrote. "Nothing in the term composition of matter suggests that living things are excluded from the definition...
...dissenter, Justice Julius Isaac, argued that higher life forms simply did not fit the Canadian Parliament's intended definition of inventions. He also said that more deference should have been given to the patent commissioner's expert judgement of the application...
...Courts are the wrong place to decide whether we should be patenting higher life forms," Swenarchuck said. "Our legislatures need to look at the Patent Act and the idea of invention and whether they intend it to cover living creatures...