§ Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the patenting of genetically-manipulated animals.
§ Mr. Douglas Hogg[holding answer 15 January 1990]: Patents are granted in the United Kingdom for inventions which are novel, non-obvious and capable of industrial application, except that plant or animal varieties and essential biological processes, among other things, are not patentable. However, microbiological processes and their products, with which genetic engineering is essentially involved, are patentable and it is therefore likely that patent applications for inventions concerned with genetically-manipulated animals would be granted, provided other relevant conditions were met.
A European Community proposal for a directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions which is currently under discussion would not alter this position. Nevertheless, I am aware that a patent application for a genetically-manipulated mouse similar to one granted by the US Patent and Trade Mark Office has been refused by the European Patent Office. However, this decision is under appeal.