This course will consider the application of intellectual property to the various fields of biotechnology - covering agriculture, research, medicine and the environment. It will examine the legitimate scope of patentable subject matter, the threshold criteria, the exceptions to patent infringement, the implications for bioethics, the relationship between patents and plant breeder's rights, and questions of access to genetic resources. Principal topics include:

• Micro-organisms
•  Plants
• Animals
• Research Tools and Experimental Use
• Gene Patents
• Stem Cell Patents
• Pharmaceutical Drugs and Access to Medicines
• Information Technology and Bioinformatics
• Nanotechnology
• Synthetic Biology
• Clean Technologies
• Access to Genetic Resources
• Traditional Knowledge

By the end of the course Students will have been provided with the opportunity to learn how to:

• identify, apply and assess issues relating to each of the relevant areas of intellectual property in various fields of scientific research
• recognise the choices that are involved with the protection of intellectual property and understand the issues confronted in each choice
• understand the potential role and dangers of ownership rights and marketing protection in encouraging scientific research.

The assessment of this course is likely to involve at least two components, including a compulsory exam and essay or presentation components. There is also likely to be a class participation component depending on class size. More information about the means of assessment, including the relationship between the assessment and the learning outcomes of the course, will be available on the course home page by the first week of semester.

This class will involve 2 hours of class contact each week and up to 8 hours of reading and associated exercises to be completed out of class.

This is a six unit Group E course offered by the ANU College of Law for students with no prior law knowledge.

Not available to Law students.

The set texts for this course are: Australian Law Reform Commission, Genes and Ingenuity: Gene Patenting and Human Health. Report 99. Sydney: Australian Commonwealth, June 2004, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/alrc/publications/reports/99/ and Senate Community Affairs Committee, Inquiry into Gene Patents, Canberra: Australian Parliament, November 2009, http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/gene_patents/index.htm

Students should also refer to the key cases and other key material, which are electronically hyperlinked. Students should have reference to a copy of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth), the Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994 (Cth), and the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment Regulations (No 2) 2005 (Cth).  These may be downloaded from <http://law.gov.au>. Or this legislation may be found in the Butterworths Intellectual Property Collection (Butterworths, Sydney, 2009).

Information about prescribed texts and other reading materials will be available in the course outline. See the course home page on the ANU College of Law website.

This course will not count towards the Bachelor of Science (Psychology) or Bachelor of Science (Forestry) component of combined programs. The course is not offered to law students; it is specially designed for non-law students.

This is a compulsory course in the Bachelor of Biotechnology and other science students can take this course however it will not be classed as a science course ie it will not count towards the Group C science requirement of your degree. Instead it will be classed as an out of College course.