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An alternative to property rights in human tissue
1University of Montreal, Canada.
The Hastings Center Report
|September 1, 1990
Summary
New legal frameworks can protect property rights for innovations derived from human tissue. This approach establishes a tiered structure for substances within the human body, enabling ownership of labor-invested products.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology Law
- Bioethics
- Intellectual Property Law
Background:
- The intersection of human biological materials and intellectual property law presents complex ethical and legal challenges.
- Existing legal frameworks may not adequately address ownership of novel products derived from human tissue through labor investment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a novel legal structure for substances constitutive of human beings.
- To explore the accommodation of property rights in new products created via labor investment in human tissue.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of existing legal structures related to biological substances.
- Development of a three-tiered legal framework model.
- Examination of property rights principles in the context of biotechnology.
Main Results:
- A three-tiered legal structure can be conceptualized for substances within the human body.
- This structure can accommodate property rights for new products derived from human tissue.
- Investment of labor in human tissue can be legally recognized as a basis for ownership.
Conclusions:
- The proposed legal structure offers a potential solution for recognizing intellectual property in human-derived innovations.
- This framework could incentivize further research and development in biotechnology by clarifying ownership.
- Further legal and ethical discourse is warranted to refine and implement such a structure.