§ Dr. StarkeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the Patent Office's policy is on granting patents for human embryonic stem cells. [108812]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Comptroller-General of the Patent Office is publishing on the Patent Office website a Practice Notice dealing with inventions related to human embryonic stem cells. I will place a copy in the Libraries of the House.
Practice Notices are published by the Patent Office from time to time to inform its users of its approach to different aspects of its work. Among other things, they may relate to the grant of patents in certain areas of technology or categories of invention. The approach outlined in Practice Notices is subject to modification in the light of judgments from the courts.