Meating the Climate Challenge: Tissue Engineered Meat, Patents, Utilitarianism and Biotechnological Solutions

This thesis examines how patent law can shape the future of sustainable food, focusing on tissue engineered meat as a case study in biotechnological innovation. It explores the legal and political forces that have historically protected conventional meat and dairy industries, and considers how similar resistance may emerge against tissue engineered meat. Central to the analysis are exclusions from patentability under European Patent Convention (EPC) and United Kingdom (UK) law. Additionally, the thesis draws on the philosophy of utilitarianism, especially that of John Stuart Mill, to argue that patent protection is justified when it promotes socially beneficial innovation. In this context, the socially beneficial aim is defined primarily by environmentalism. It concludes that the patent system can play a vital role in supporting a more sustainable food system.