Washington

The Canadian Supreme Court has turned down a far-reaching patent application on a genetically modified mouse — setting Canada's intellectual property law on a strikingly independent path.

Harvard University had applied to patent the methods for making a transgenic mouse that is highly susceptible to cancer — the so-called 'oncomouse' — in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan. The university had also asked to patent the actual mice, as well as all non-human mammals that have been modified to be vulnerable to cancer.

The patents have already been granted in all of these countries except Canada. But on 5 December, Canada's highest court denied Harvard's request to patent the mice. “A higher life form is not patentable because it is not a 'manufacture' or 'composition of matter',” the court said in its ruling, which can't be appealed except through legislation.

The court did not rule out Harvard's claims on the process used to make the oncomouse, however, and the university says it will continue to pursue that claim.

The decision isn't seen as a huge setback for Harvard, because Canada is a relatively small part of the global market for the mouse. But it is expected to have major ramifications for life-sciences research and biotechnology in Canada. BIOTECanada, a biotechnology association, says the move will deter researchers from trying to develop research tools, such as transgenic animals, that could be useful for science and medicine.

But environmental groups welcomed the decision. “We think the court got it right,” says Jo Dufay, campaign director for Greenpeace Canada. “These issues are so complex that they require full public debate, and that goes beyond a simple tinkering with the Canadian patent act.” The court ruling is expected to lend impetus to a major overhaul of Canadian patent law, which parliament is expected to take on before the current government leaves office.