Biological diversity in the patent system

Area of Science:

• Intellectual Property Law
• Biodiversity Conservation
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Limited empirical analysis exists on biodiversity's presence within the patent system.
• The patenting of biological diversity is a persistent area of controversy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically analyze the extent and nature of biodiversity within the patent system.
• To identify key areas of innovation involving genetic resources and species.
• To inform policy discussions on genetic resource governance and benefit-sharing.

Main Methods:

• Text mining of 11 million patent documents.
• Utilizing species names from the Global Names Index (GNI) and Encyclopedia of Life (EOL).
• Identifying species names within patent claims.

Main Results:

• 76,274 species names from 23,882 genera were identified in 767,955 patent documents.
• 25,595 species appeared in patent claims, representing approximately 4% of described species.
• Innovation is concentrated on a narrow subset of global biodiversity.

Conclusions:

• The current narrow focus of patenting biodiversity may not serve humanity's long-term interests.
• A wider range of biodiversity requires research and development with equitable benefit-sharing.
• Alternative innovation models like open source are needed to address neglected human needs.