Author(s): Chenguo Zhang, Yichen Zhang
The patentability of human genes has long been a controversial topic around the world. The United States Supreme Court denied the patentability of isolated genes but acknowledged that of cDNA in the Myriad case. On the contrary, similar to the attitude of Europe, China grants patent protection to isolated genes upon satisfying certain requirements. However, the related provisions in the Chinese patent legalsystem are far from specific enough. This article introduces the major approaches in the most representative jurisdictions towards this question and their problems respectively. Then this article aims to provide suggestions for the future direction of China on this issue from the perspective of comparative analysis.