Last Thursday and Friday, speakers and delegates from all around the world gathered in London for the first conference of the Patenting Lives project. The conference was conceived as a genuinely interdisciplinary forum on the various questions and issues arising from the application of patent protection to life forms. Opened by Tony Howard, Deputy Director of the UK Patent Office, panels included human rights, public interest, development, traditional knowledge, agriculture, medicine, and gene patents, and speakers included academics, artist, NGO representatives, activists, and government representatives. The second day included a keynote address by Tony Taubman, Acting Director and Head of Traditional Knowledge, World Intellectual Property Organization. Full profiles of the speakers and abstracts of all the papers are available on the Patenting Lives conference site, with full papers and presentations to be made available soon, together with a photo gallery of the conference event. Thanks to everyone who was involved - speakers, discussants, and delegates - who made this such a valuable and I hope significant event.
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