Abstract
Conflicting decisions are made regarding the patentability of inventions related to human embryonic stem cells (hESC) in China based on divergent ethical judgments and arguments. Gaps between patent and health law exist, and inconsistent applications of patentability emerge. The amendment to China's Patent Examination Guidelines regulated that isolating or obtaining stem cells using human embryos which are not undergoing in vivo development and are within 14 days after fertilization could be granted patent. This regulatory scheme that uses the 14-day threshold for patenting hESC-related invention is feasible, transparent, and can be conformed with by researchers and other actors in this field. However, making policy on this matter is not straightforwardly a matter of winning a philosophical argument on moral issues: the moral status of human embryos must be still carefully weighed and balanced in the patent examination process.
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