The Patentability of Life Sciences Inventions in Europe Versus the United States

The U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Mayo and Alice have spurred uncertainty concerning the patentability of life sciences inventions in the United States. A growing perception is that the European Patent Office is treating more favorably European equivalents of life sciences inventions which are unable to secure patent protection in the United States. Such an outcome would undermine the global integration of patent standards and would increase the cost and complexity of obtaining global patent family protection in the life sciences. This state of affairs calls for assessing patentability requirements at an international level. Our panel compared and contrasted the standards applied to life sciences invention at the European Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and explained, for hypothetical inventions, how the result could differ under each regime.