Loughlan P L
Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, NSW.
Med J Aust. 1995 Apr 3;162(7):376-7, 380. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1995.tb139944.x.
The Full Federal Court of Australia recently held, in a decisive break with long-established legal principle, that methods of medical treatment are patentable inventions. The judgment signals the advent of monopolies and therefore monopoly prices on new therapeutic procedures until now made freely available to the medical profession. It also heralds delays in the dissemination of information about discoveries of such procedures through teaching and publication until a patent application can be prepared for and made.
澳大利亚联邦最高法院最近做出裁决，与长期确立的法律原则彻底决裂，认定医疗方法属于可获专利的发明。这一判决标志着垄断的出现，因此，此前医疗行业可免费使用的新治疗方法将出现垄断价格。它还预示着，在为这类方法的发现准备并提交专利申请之前，通过教学和出版传播相关信息的工作将出现延迟。
