European Patent Office hears dispute on human stem cells

June 25, 2008

A European Patent Office (EPO) tribunal in Munich heard a dispute Tuesday on whether a method of growing embryonal human stem cells can be patented, but gave no date for its decision on the controversial case. US scientist James Thomson, who in 1998 was the first in the world to cultivate such stem cells, is appealing to EPO’s highest board over the refusal to grant a patent in the European Union for the so-called WARF stem cell. (Earthtimes)