Act Implementing the Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions in Germany (BioPatG)
Abstract
24 Biotechnology Law Report 561 Number 5 (October 2005) © Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Act Implementing the Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions in Germany (BioPatG) DR. FRANZ-JOSEF ZIMMER and DR. SVENJA SETHMANN* INTRODUCTION I 6, 1998, after almost 10 years of consultation, Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions (the Biotechnology Directive) was passed by a large majority. This Directive obliges the Member States to protect biotechnological inventions by way of patents. The Directive was to be implemented into national law by July 30, 2000, but only 18 of the 25 EU Member States met this deadline. The defaulters were France, the Benelux countries, Austria, Italy, and also Germany. On October 28, 2004, Germany was convicted by the European Court of failure to implement the Directive. By delaying implementation any longer, Germany would have risked high fines. The German parliament finally passed the Bill implementing the Biotechnology Directive (BioPatG), introduced by the Federal government, on December 3, 2004. This belated passing of the Act implementing the EU Directive was preceded by many years of intensive public debate in Germany, the key point under discussion being