Higher plants patent protection

The effect of the decision was to grant patent protection to a nonpatentable plant (a higher life form) because its bioengineered cells are patentable [44]. In application, this doctrine means that patent scope can be understood to cover both the claimed invention as well as any broader structure that encapsulates or incorporates the invention [44]. These Canadian decisions have been referred to as the most significant decisions in the area of biotech patent law anywhere in the world, and the esteem attributed to them makes their inconsistencies that much more disconcerting [45]. 

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