Christian Lenk is a Researcher, and Assistant Professor at the Department for Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Goettingen, Germany. He also is a member of the research ethics committee of the University of Goettingen and in charge of the Goettingen project of PROPEUR. Nils Hoppe worked in child abuse law in England until 2001, as legal counsel in a large university hospital until 2003 and is now a Senior Lecturer in English for law at the University of Hannover, Germany, where he is also working on his doctorate in law on a topic related to property rights in biological material. Roberto Andorno was a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee from 1998 to 2005. He is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Ethics Centre of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

'From access to vital medicines through to patenting of the human genome, this wide-ranging collection covers a wide range of important issues in modern biomedicine and law. In a field where the pace of change is exponential, these articles will be highly valuable to scholars and general readers alike.' Donna Dickenson, University of London, UK '...contains fourteen intellectually stimulating, and imminently readable chapters...a pleasure to read.' Medicine, Health Care & Philosophy

• Introduction; Part 1 Political Regulations and Institutions; Chapter 1 Biobank Governance: Property, Privacy and Consent, Roger Brownsword; Chapter 2 Population Genetic Databases: A New Challenge to Human Rights, Roberto Andorno; Chapter 3 Intellectual Property Rights and the Right to Health: Considering the Case of Access to Medicines, Alyna C. Smith; Chapter 4 International Protection of Human Genetic Data – The UNESCO Declaration on Human Genetic Data and the Possible Impact on Genetic Governance Models, Tobias Schulte in den Bäumen; Chapter 5 TRIPS Jurisprudence in the Balance: Between the Realist Defense of Policy Space and a Shared Utilitarian Ethic, Antony S. Taubman; Part 2 Science and Intellectual Property; Chapter 6 Exclusive Property Rights in the Biosciences: An Ethical Discussion, Christian Lenk; Chapter 7 Enclosing the “Knowledge Commons”: Patenting Genes for Disease Risk and Drug Response at the University–Industry Interface, Bryn Williams-Jones, Vural Ozdemir; Chapter 8 Reconceptualizing Genetics: Challenges to Traditional Medical Ethics, Heather Widdows; Chapter 9 Lack of Access to Essential Drugs: A Story of Continuing Global Failure, with Particular Attention to the Role of Patents, Sigrid Sterckx; Chapter 10 Out of Touch: From Corporeal to Incorporeal, or Moore Revisited, Nils Hoppe; Part 3 Distribution, Licensing and Protection of Intellectual Property; Chapter 11 Knowledge and Information – Private Property or Common Good? A Global Perspective, Rainer Kuhlen; Chapter 12 The Limit of Balancing Interests Through Copyright Levies, Lucie Guibault; Chapter 13 The Institutional Nature of the Patent System: Implications for Bioethical Decision-Making, Sivaramjani Thambisetty; Chapter 14 Why People Give Information Freely: Internet Architecture and the Rebirth of Folkloric Culture, John Cahir;