Agricultural Biotechnology
Patentability of Living Matter Related to Biofuel production in the U.S.
With energy prices soaring, the development of renewable biofuels in the United States is a national priority motivated by both economic and environmental concerns, including enhancement of the domestic fuel supply, and maintenance of the rural economy. Biofuels are closely associated with living material, as opposed to long dead organic matter that is associated with fossil fuels. Given this connection, it is not surprising that intellectual property rights in living matter play an enormous role in emerging biofuel technologies. Patents of actual living organisms are important to the U.S. biofuel industry because, as this paper will demonstrate, patents give innovators in the biofuel industry the tools required to protect the intellectual property developed through vital scientific research.
This paper will focus on the ways various forms of living matter may be patented based on the intellectual property laws of the U.S and various foreign laws that the U.S. is obligated by treaty to follow. Patentability of plant life, microorganisms, and animals will be evaluated in detail with regard to production of alcohols (ethanol), biodiesel and methane gas. Plant life will be examined from the perspective of its use as a feedstock. Microorganisms will be examined as agents of fermentation for the biofuels. It will be shown that without the ability to patent living matter, the biofuel industry would be severely hampered.