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22 J.L. Inf. & Sci. 76 (2012-2013)
Evidence-Based Policy: Understanding the Technology Landscape

handle is hein.journals/jlinfos22 and id is 88 raw text is: Evidence-Based Policy: Understanding the Technology Landscape E RICHARD GOLD AND ANDREW M BAKER 1 Introduction Debates over gene patenting, genomics, pharmaceuticals and other fields have largely been conducted on the basis of assumption - that patents are essential to innovation' or that they stifle innovation2 - rather than on evidence. It is thus refreshing that, in her article, Implications of DNA Patenting: Reviewing the Evidence,' Dianne Nicol pointed to the centrality of evidence in resolving longstanding arguments over human gene patents. This article argues that it is not just any evidence, but evidence that is collected and analysed following standard practices in a transparent manner and with an acknowledgement of the limitations of the analysis, that counts.' This article will illustrate the need for greater care in collecting and communicating evidence through a discussion of a increasingly important tool used to understand and analyse innovation policy and business strategy: James McGill Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University. The authors wish to thank Ben James of the UK Intellectual Property Office, Dan Cahoy, Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University, Greg Graff, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University and participants at the Managing Knowledge in Synthetic Biology conference held on 20-21 June 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland for their insights and comments. This research was supported by VALGEN (Value Addition through Genomics and GE3LS), a project sponsored by the Government of Canada through Genome Canada, Genome Prairie and Genome Quebec. LL.B-B.C.L. student, Faculty of Law, McGill University. See, for example, Association of Molecular Pathology v LIS Patent and Trademark Office, 689 F 3d 1303, 1333 (2012) per Lourie J. (Patents encourage innovation and even encourage inventing around). 2 D Resnik, DNA Patents and Scientific Discovery and Innovation: Assessing Benefits and Risks (2001) 7 Science and Engineering Ethics 29, 39 (Allowing people to patent this basic information about DNA would hinder the free flow of information and stifle scientific innovation and progress. Allowing people to patent naturally occurring DNA sequences would also have detrimental effects on innovation and discovery.) D Nicol, Implications of DNA Patenting: Reviewing the Evidence (2011) 21 Journal of Law, Information and Science 7. 4 For a discussion of the introduction of this evidence into court proceedings in the Canadian context, see R Gold and R Carbone, (Mis)Reliance on Social Science Evidence in Intellectual Property Litigation: A Case Study (2012) 28 Canadian Intellectual Property Review 179. EAP 1

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