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AIRR Data Under the E.U. Trade Secrets Directive: Aligning Scientific Practices with Commercial Realities

Sherkow, Jacob S. and Minssen, Timo LU (2020) p.239-268
Abstract
Whether the E.U. Trade Secrets Directive sufficiently and appropriately covers cutting-edge complex technologies is of critical interest to policy-makers, scientists, and commercial developers alike. One such technology—adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing, or AIRR-seq—raises difficult questions concerning what information is and should be protected under the new Directive, and how to best align scientific practices with commercial realities. The ‘raw’ form AIRR-seq data—massive genetic datasets of hundreds of millions of individuals’ immune cells—tends to be freely shared among academic researchers, thus typically destroying the protectability of the underlying information. But follow-on data—essentially, information... (More)
Whether the E.U. Trade Secrets Directive sufficiently and appropriately covers cutting-edge complex technologies is of critical interest to policy-makers, scientists, and commercial developers alike. One such technology—adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing, or AIRR-seq—raises difficult questions concerning what information is and should be protected under the new Directive, and how to best align scientific practices with commercial realities. The ‘raw’ form AIRR-seq data—massive genetic datasets of hundreds of millions of individuals’ immune cells—tends to be freely shared among academic researchers, thus typically destroying the protectability of the underlying information. But follow-on data—essentially, information interpreting that data—is nonetheless protectable under the Directive because it is both economically valuable and not readily available from an examination of the raw data itself. Protecting this follow-on information while encouraging the free sharing of AIRR-seq data best accords the purpose of the Trade Secrets Directive. Lessons from the case of AIRR-seq data also sheds light on other puzzles concerning the tensions between disclosure and intellectual property protections, such as the mutual exclusivity of patents and trade secrets, the sharing of clinical trial data, and protecting genetic diagnostics. (Less)
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author
and
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Health law, Hälsorätt
host publication
The harmonization and protection of trade secrets in the EU – An Appraisal of the EU Directive
editor
Schovsbo, Jens ; Riis, Thomas and Minssen, Timo
pages
30 pages
publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN
978 1 78897 333 5
978 1 78897 334 2
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
7beb69f2-1dbc-4ed0-b3c2-df735d4943a7
date added to LUP
2020-12-16 13:12:32
date last changed
2020-12-21 14:45:41
@inbook{7beb69f2-1dbc-4ed0-b3c2-df735d4943a7,
  abstract     = {{Whether the E.U. Trade Secrets Directive sufficiently and appropriately covers cutting-edge complex technologies is of critical interest to policy-makers, scientists, and commercial developers alike. One such technology—adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing, or AIRR-seq—raises difficult questions concerning what information is and should be protected under the new Directive, and how to best align scientific practices with commercial realities. The ‘raw’ form AIRR-seq data—massive genetic datasets of hundreds of millions of individuals’ immune cells—tends to be freely shared among academic researchers, thus typically destroying the protectability of the underlying information. But follow-on data—essentially, information interpreting that data—is nonetheless protectable under the Directive because it is both economically valuable and not readily available from an examination of the raw data itself. Protecting this follow-on information while encouraging the free sharing of AIRR-seq data best accords the purpose of the Trade Secrets Directive. Lessons from the case of AIRR-seq data also sheds light on other puzzles concerning the tensions between disclosure and intellectual property protections, such as the mutual exclusivity of patents and trade secrets, the sharing of clinical trial data, and protecting genetic diagnostics.}},
  author       = {{Sherkow, Jacob S. and Minssen, Timo}},
  booktitle    = {{The harmonization and protection of trade secrets in the EU – An Appraisal of the EU Directive}},
  editor       = {{Schovsbo, Jens and Riis, Thomas and Minssen, Timo}},
  isbn         = {{978 1 78897 333 5}},
  keywords     = {{Health law; Hälsorätt}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  pages        = {{239--268}},
  publisher    = {{Edward Elgar Publishing}},
  title        = {{AIRR Data Under the E.U. Trade Secrets Directive: Aligning Scientific Practices with Commercial Realities}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}