SpringerBriefs in Biotech Patents presents timely reports on intellectual properties (IP) issues and patent aspects in the field of biotechnology. In this volume the limits of patentability are addressed, a question that is often raised when it comes to biotechnological inventions: The first section addresses current issues in the patentability of plants produced by essentially biological processes including the controversy between farmer's privilege and patent exhaustion with respect to seeds in the US. The second section examines the patentability of human embryonic stem cells in Europe and the US, also considering alternative technologies with respect to their practicability and patentability. The third section focuses on the patentability of genes and nucleic acids, especially the issue of patenting of encoding genes and nucleic acids.

Dr. Ulrich Storz was born in 1969 in Muenster. He graduated in Biology at the University of Muenster in 1998, where he received his PhD in 2002. He is author and co-author of several scientific publications in the field of biology and biophysics as well as of several juridical publications in the field of intellectual property. He passed the German Patent Bar Examination in 2005. Since 2005, he has been admitted to practice as European Trademark Attorney at the European Trademark Office (OHIM). In 2006, he has been registered in the list of representatives before the European Patent Office. Main practice areas in the field of Intellectual Property Law include Patent Prosecution, FTO and Patent Infringement, as well as Patent strategies; especially in the Life Science field (i.e. Biotechnology, Biophysics, Biochemistry, microbiology). One of his major fields of interest is Antibody IP. Ulrich Storz is active as a speaker for the congress management company 'Forum Institut für Management GmbH', and he organizes the annual Rhineland Biopatent Forum.