[Patents and scientific research: an ethical-legal approach]. / Patentes e investigación científica: un enfoque ético-jurídico.

ABSTRACT

This article aims to review the relationship between patents and scientific research from an ethical point of view. The recent developments in the law of industrial property led in many cases to patent discoveries, contributions of basic science, and laws of nature. This trend, which denies the central principles of the discipline, creates disturbances in scientific activity, which requires the free movement of knowledge in order to develop their potentialities.