The book is written for non specialists, in an easy to understand style, as free as possible from scientific or legal jargon. It takes the reader from the early days of recombinant DNA science to the present, where thousands of companies worldwide have created what we now know as modern biotechnology.

 

Yet this is not only a book about the science or the academic or industrial entities involved. Given my involvement as one of the pioneers in the intellectual property of biotechnology, I was witness and actor in many of the legal developments that framed the growth of commercial biology. Each chapter includes tales of legal controversies, such as priority, inventorship, ownership, and patenting disputes. I include vivid descriptions of the personalities involved, university and corporate scientists, lawyers, judges, and entrepreneurs. I weave my anecdotes and tales into a narrative of how the field has come to be what it is today.

 

There are chapters on patenting microbes, plants, insects, and large animals. I do not shy away from controversies, such as the impact of patented GMOs on society, the patentability of isolated genes, or the access to expensive patented drugs in the developing world.