Pirate Congress 2021/Motions/Policy and Platform/Gene Patents

PM-1 Gene Patents update
Put by: Roger Whatling, Alex Jago

Motion
Update the gene patents sections of the Patents policy with the following (removing the action dot-point section entirely):

Genes and organisms

“Products of nature” were not intended to be patentable under the original terms of patent law. However, an attempt to extend the scope of patent law temporarily permitted patents on human genes on the grounds that extraction of material from its natural environment is akin to having “invented” it. This is a nonsensical legal artifice which, if applied in other fields, would lead to patents on coal, cotton, and wood.

It is also a particularly harmful form of corporate welfare. Gene patents are effectively a state-granted right to lock away fundamental information about our bodies. Gene patents hinder research by forcing scientists to negotiate among dozens of gene patent holders, who bear no obligation to contribute to research themselves. Gene patents also lead to huge costs being imposed on sick and dying patients for simple tests and treatments.

In 2015, the High Court of Australia overturned the ruling that enabled this atrocity, noting that this could have a “chilling effect” on healthcare and research, and that “such a result would be at odds with the purposes of the patent system”.

The Pirate Party maintains that patents on naturally occurring living and genetic material, regardless of environment, should continue to be outside the bounds of patent law.

Rationale
Genes have arguably been unpatentable under Australian law since a 2015 High Court decision. The policy should reflect this and state our opposition to it ever happening again.