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Person Skilled in the Art in Synthetic Biology from Iraqi and Malaysian Perspectives

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Abstract

This article presents the problem of a person skilled in the field of synthetic biology. The person skilled in the art is one of the notions which have to be revisited due to the multidisciplinary nature of synthetic biology which involves numerous fields. The article studies this problem from the perspectives of Iraqi and Malaysian patent laws. First, it conceptualizes synthetic biology and person skilled in the art. The Iraqi and Malaysian attitudes regarding person skilled in the art are then addressed. Afterwards, the paper points out the multidisciplinary nature of synthetic biology. In its last part, it discusses the person skilled in synthetic biology and how patent offices and courts deal with this point. Finally, the authors submit that the use of a team of skilled persons to substitute for a single technician would render the obviousness test a subjective assessment dependent on the inventor. The level of non-obviousness would differ in similar cases simply because of the number of inventors. Consequently, the suggestion of having a hypothetical team instead of one person is irrelevant because skills that are attributed to the skilled notional person are not real skills. Thus, replacing him is easy, but the replacement would be fruitless because the skills attributed to a person or a team will be similar.

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Notes

  1. Synthetic biology has introduced many new topics, such as synthesized genes and proteins with extra amino acids.

  2. An example of these principles is that of the human genetic makeup that has been altered by the emergence of synthetic biology.

  3. http://www.organicconsumers.org/nanotech.cfm

  4. For instance, see section Article 2 in the Iraqi patent act, section 15 in the Malaysian patent act, and section 3 in the UK patent act of 1977.

  5. See section 103 in the US patent act.

  6. Section 3

  7. Art. 56 of European Patent Convention

  8. Section 15

  9. Article 1(1) of the Directive No. 1 1990 for the performance directive of the Iraqi Patent states, “An invention shall be considered innovative if it would not be obvious to skilled people with respect to the state-of-the-art at the filing date.”

  10. Neuberger J. said, “The court will normally be hearing from experts…” Amgen Parties v Roche Parties [2001] EWHC 433.

  11. Hoechst Celanese v BP [1997] FSR 547, p 563; Synthon BV v. Smithkline Beecham plc [2006] RPC 10, p 27

  12. Beloit v Valmet [1997] RPC 489, p 494, by Aldous LJ. See also Eli Lilly and Company V Human Genome Sciences, Inc. [2008] RPC 29, p 30.

  13. Raychem Corporation Patent, p 504, line 19; Schlumberger Holdings Ltd. v Electromagnetic Geoservices AS [2009] PRC 19

  14. Generics (UK) v Daiichi Pharmaceutical [2008] EWHC 2413 (pat) http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2008/2413.html (24 February 2013)

  15. At para 40

  16. Ronic Corporation v Cadware Sdn Bhd [2012] 1 LNS 330

  17. At p 24

  18. Sanofi-Aventis (Malaysia) SDN BHD & ANOR v. Fresenius Kabi (Malaysia) SDN BHD & ANOR, [2012] 4 CLJ 532, at 547 and 548

  19. Ranbaxy (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd v. E.I Du Pont Nemours & CO [2012] 9 CLJ at 96

  20. Sanofi-Aventis (Malaysia) SDN BHD & ANOR v. Fresenius Kabi (Malyasia) SDN BHD & ANOR, [2012] 4 CLJ 532, at 574

  21. At p 727

  22. Boehringer Mannheim v Genzyme [1993] RPC 716 at p 727; Amgen Parties v. Roche Parties [2001] EWHC Patents 433

  23. Genentech’s Patent, 278, (Mustill LJ)

  24. Dillon J. in Genentech patent [1989] at p 241; see the same point in Nokia GmbH v Ipcom GmbH & Co. KG [2009] EWHC 3482 (Pat).

  25. This statement was delivered by Laddie J. in Pfizer Ltd.’s patent [2001].

  26. Genentech Inc., Patent [1989] RPC 147, at p 214

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, UKM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Zinatul Ashiqin Zainol

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Kufa, Najaf, Iraq

    Nabeel Mahdi Althabhawi

Authors
  1. Zinatul Ashiqin Zainol
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  2. Nabeel Mahdi Althabhawi
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Correspondence to Nabeel Mahdi Althabhawi.

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Zainol, Z.A., Althabhawi, N.M. Person Skilled in the Art in Synthetic Biology from Iraqi and Malaysian Perspectives. Nanoethics 12, 55–60 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-018-0311-3

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