Abstract
Modern biotech-industry, one of the classical industries of knowledge-based economies, is supposed to be the key component in the global trend many countries devoting in. Patent law is the major legal system concerning biotech-related intellectual property right. The present concepts or ideology in the structure of the patent law leave the zones overlapping biotechnology in a great obscure condition. Since biotechnological inventions, while being applied in conventional patent law, involve some extremely complicated concerns, such as diverse and even contradicting viewpoints of life or various ethics with quite different values and beliefs, and the established criteria for patent law is becoming disputable, we must try to investigate the rationality of the patent law legislation or the impacts on the society, economy humanity, legal system, etc, resulted from the interaction of modern biotechnology and patent law.In regard with the above-mentioned concern, European Union (EU) based on the consideration of the needs both of economy and respects, finally legislated Directive 98/44/EC to provide a clear and determinative legal protection for biotechnological inventions on 1998. The goal of the aforesaid act, Directive 98/44/EC, is to establish a more unambiguous standard for all the EU members to adjust her patent law system in respect of biotechnological inventions. But till now, there are only seven EU members, including England, Ireland, Finland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, and Greece, have internalized the concepts of Directive 98/44/EC in their own national patent law system. One of the oppositions concerns the subject matter is that patenting the biotech-related subject mater could infringe the human rights and dignity. Moreover, some terms in Directive 98/44/EC, such as “animal variety” or ” order public or morality”, are more an uncertain rather than explicit concepts.The objective of the present thesis is to study some disputable issues in Directive 98/44/EC that still wait for being explained, such as “plant variety”, ”animal variety”, “essentially biological process”, ”order public or morality” and ”an element of the human body”. In preparing the present thesis, relevant cases and scholars’ opinions are introduced as well, and finally my opinions are brought up.