Patent Politics: Life Forms, Markets, and the Public Interest in the United States and Europe

by Shobita Parthasarathy

Over the past thirty years, the world’s patent systems have experienced pressure from civil society like never before. From farmers to patient advocates, new voices are arguing that patents impact public health, economic inequality, morality—and democracy. These challenges, to domains that we usually consider technical and legal, may seem surprising. But in Patent Politics , Shobita Parthasarathy argues that patent systems have always been deeply political and social.
 
To demonstrate this, Parthasarathy takes readers through a particularly fierce and prolonged set of controversies over patents on life forms linked to important advances in biology and agriculture and potentially life-saving medicines. Comparing battles over patents on animals, human embryonic stem cells, human genes, and plants in the United States and Europe, she shows how political culture, ideology, and history shape patent system politics. Clashes over whose voices and which values matter in the patent system, as well as what counts as knowledge and whose expertise is important, look quite different in these two places. And through these debates, the United States and Europe are developing very different approaches to patent and innovation governance. Not just the first comprehensive look at the controversies swirling around biotechnology patents, Patent Politics is also the first in-depth analysis of the political underpinnings and implications of modern patent systems, and provides a timely analysis of how we can reform these systems around the world to maximize the public interest.

Genres: Politics

304 pages, Hardcover

Published February 21, 2017

Reviews

[Mike]

The author writes like a student trying to fill a page quota for a term paper she didn't start until the day before. Despite all research, the information density is very low, but the word count and use of the passive voice are very high. Rambling lists of three or more policymakers, lobbyists, patent lawyers, and other stakeholders that name only vague categories of actors rather than anyone meaningfully specific had over time come to understand their evolving roles in the larger systemic framework with respect to other decision makers and policymakers. Oi vey!

Each chapter told the same story: Lobbyists basically failed to gain influence over patents in the US, but had a bit more success in the EU. I want to give this book 2.5 stars because of the research that went into it, but the writing is just so painful that I can't justify giving it 3 stars rating. The important stories and facts in the book could be boiled down to a long article.

[Baal Of]

This is a seriously wonky book that dives deep into the politics of patent law, comparing and contrasting the U.S. system with that of Europe. It is written in a very careful, thorough, and exceeding dry tone, frequently repeating key points from multiple perspectives. Parthasarathy is very careful to remain entirely neutral, reporting the various sides of the arguments without any kind of editorializing or personal opinion. I found it to be a slow but enlightening read, and despite the dryness of the material, the underlying issues did get me riled up, especially as I felt to two opposing sides were both leveraging fallacious arguments. I can't say that I enjoyed reading this book, but it was informative, and ultimately it was worth my time.

[Liz Cloos]

Patent Politics is an insightful read from Shobita Parthasarathy. She compares the evolution of the patent systems in the United States and Europe in the context of patents on life-related objects (GMOs, stem cells, genes, etc.). Essentially, the US system defines patents as techno-legal objects whereas Europe allows for a broader definition that incorporates social concerns. I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to learn more about the patent systems.