The Harvard Mouse and All That: Life Patents in Canada

 Michelle Swenarchuk, CELA Publication #454, October 2003, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Toronto.

On December 5, 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision that a higher
life form, a genetically–engineered mouse, developed at Harvard University for use in
cancer research was not patentable.  The case had been extensively covered in the media,
bringing to public attention the little-known practice of granting patents on living things.
Harvard had argued that Canada needed to follow the patent practice in the United States,
where the mouse and other animals are patentable.  In declining to do so, the Court
opened the door to a wide debate on the role of life patents in public policy, and the value
of a distinct Canadian path.