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掲載巻(発行年) / 号 / 頁 5巻(2005年) / 2号 / 16頁
論文区分 論説
論文名 Summary of the Report “What Kind of Patent Protection Should There Be for Medical Practices (Conclusion)” and Our Proposals for the Future
著者 バイオテクノロジー委員会
抄録 We reviewed the deliberation process at the Task Force on Patent Protection for Medical
Practices under the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters, and discussed specific problems to be
solved for future intellectual property systems and a desirable direction of solution, based on the
Report titled “What Kind of Patent Protection Should There Be for Medical Practices (Conclusion),”
which was developed and disclosed by the task force. Having considered whether or not patent protection
should be afforded for advanced methods of using medical devices and medicinal substances, the
task force concluded that a “method of operating a medical device” as a whole should be regarded as a
patentable subject matter and a “method of bringing about new efficacy or effects of medicinal substances
for the purpose of manufacturing and selling the substances” should be protected by a patent
for an invention of a product, while excluding a method of using medicinal substances from the scope
of patentable inventions of methods. The task force stressed the necessity of revising the Examination
Guidelines so as to expand the scope of patent protection as widely as possible, taking one step forward
which was still insufficient to solve all problems in this field. In the future, it is hoped that improvements
will be made to the patent system in accordance with the conclusion of the task force’s
report, aiming to afford sufficient protection for technologies relating to methods in this field without
causing an adverse effect on medical services.
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