The story of the commercialization of biology by a pioneer in biotechnology patenting
Shortly after the emergence of genetic engineering in the 1970s, academic biologists were courted by venture capitalists and multinational companies. Researchers who understood the new biology of the time went from being merely curious about how the natural world functioned to realizing that they could profit from their newfound recognition. As they were inventing all sorts of newfangled organisms, biologists became acquainted with intellectual property.
Patenting Life provides insights into legal fights over patented microbes, virus-resistant crops, ownership of body parts, and the patents they engendered. Covering the early days of recombinant DNA science to the present, Goldstein shares cases from his own career and those of others involving blockbuster biological drugs, aseptic mosquitoes, genetically engineered cows, and CRISPR, the modern gene-editing technology that promises to vanquish congenital diseases such as sickle cell anemia. He also addresses the perceived downsides of the patent system: the high prices of drugs, international access to COVID-19 vaccines and other medicines, and the ascent of genetically modified crops.
Patenting Life will appeal to readers interested in science and technology and also those interested in laws promoting innovation.
Reviews
"One of the most interesting and important challenges we face is pioneering the intellectual property laws involving new forms of life and the editing of genes. Jorge Goldstein, one of the world's foremost biotech lawyers, takes us on a journey beginning with the creation of patent law in fifteenth-century Venice through the last fifty years of bioengineering. It's a tale filled with both fascinating legal cases as well as thorny ethical questions."—Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
"Goldstein brings the major milestones of modern biotechnology to life, from drugs obtained from living cells to CRISPR gene editing, showing how the law raced to catch up with the surging new science. He makes the reader feel present at each step of the journey and explains the complex in simple language."—Paul R. Michel, judge (Ret.), US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
"Goldstein's delightful romp through biotech patenting draws on his four decades of legal trench warfare. It touts the strengths while acknowledging the weaknesses of the patent regime. It is a lively, highly readable complement to dry patent case books. Congress and the courts, are you listening?"—Robert Cooke-Degan, Consortium on Science, Policy & Outcomes, Arizona State University, author of The Gene Wars: Science, Politics and the Human Genome
"Dr. Goldstein has written another gem. A dean of the biotechnology patent bar and a brilliant practitioner, it is not surprising that Jorge could write an insightful history of the biotech revolution and the novel legal issues raised by attempts to patent life. But Patenting Life is much more than that; it is a real page-turner that reads more like a novel. Jorge writes with great wit and flair, and somehow makes incredibly complex scientific achievements accessible even to non-scientists like me without dumbing them down. This is an extraordinary achievement."—Bruce Genderson, Williams & Connolly LLP
"In fascinating personal stories, the author walks us through the evolution of biotech discoveries from the first recombinant DNA experiments in academic laboratories to revolutionary medicines and vaccines and the importance of patents to all of this. His very readable narrative is both entertaining and informative."—Tony Figg, Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, Washington, DC
About the Author
Jorge Goldstein is a patent attorney trained in molecular biology who began his career on the ground floor of the biotechnology revolution forty years ago. He is a partner in Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein, and Fox, PLLC, and the author of the casebook US Biotechnology Patent Law (2023). He received a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University and a JD from George Washington University Law School.
