Written question asked by Adam Afriyie (Conservative) on Tuesday, 7 February 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 20 February 2012. It was answered by Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Patents: Science

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to promote innovation through the application of patent law to biomedical inventions.

Answer: [holding answer 20 February 2012]: Patent law in the UK is applied to patent applications for inventions arising from all fields of technology including biomedical inventions. The UK's patent system is designed to encourage invention by enabling inventors to protect new ideas and secure a return for their effort. This protection is provided to patent holders by the grant of time-limited exclusive rights in the UK market. In addition, further research by third parties is stimulated because it is a feature of the patent system that details of the invention are made public. This encourages inventions which follow on or work around existing inventions.

Secondary information