Prof. Dr. Christoph Ann, Chair, Business Law & Intellectual Property Law, Technical University of Munich
Inventors’ rights under European patent law are strong and protected as property. Nevertheless, patent law is not value-blind. Rather, Art. 53 (a) EPC stipulates that European Patents shall not be granted for inventions, the commercial exploitation of which would contravene public order or morality. And while there is no European standard for public order or morality, there is a set of fundamental and universally binding principles, e.g. human dignity or the right to life.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Ann LL.M. (Duke Univ.)
TUM School of Management, Chair for IP Law
Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC)
formerly Judge at Mannheim Regional Court (IP Panel)