Victory for Human Dignity: protection of the human embryo in judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice
On October 18, 2011, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice has released its judgment in the human patentability case that was pending now for several years.
The Court states that “any
human ovum after fertilisation, any non-fertilised human ovum into
which the cell nucleus from a mature human cell has been transplanted,
and any non-fertilised human ovum whose division and further development
have been stimulated by parthenogenesis constitute a ‘human embryo’” This is a great victory for the protection of human dignity in Europe!!!
JUDGMENT
On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) hereby rules:
1. Article 6(2)(c) of Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions must be interpreted as meaning that:
- any human ovum after fertilisation, any non-fertilised human ovum into which the cell nucleus from a mature human cell has been transplanted, and any non-fertilised human ovum whose division and further development have been stimulated by parthenogenesis constitute a ‘human embryo’;
- it is for the referring court to ascertain, in the light of scientific developments, whether a stem cell obtained from a human embryo at the blastocyst stage constitutes a ‘human embryo’ within the meaning of Article 6(2)(c) of Directive 98/44.
2. The
exclusion from patentability concerning the use of human embryos for
industrial or commercial purposes set out in Article 6(2)(c) of
Directive 98/44 also covers the use of human embryos for purposes of
scientific research, only use for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes
which are applied to the human embryo and are useful to it being
patentable.
3. Article
6(2)(c) of Directive 98/44 excludes an invention from patentability
where the technical teaching which is the subject-matter of the patent
application requires the prior destruction of human embryos or their use
as base material, whatever the stage at which that takes place and even
if the description of the technical teaching claimed does not refer to
the use of human embryos.
For more information please access on European Dignity Watch's website here
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