Germans object to 'human cloning' patent

Edinburgh University says research that could benefit Parkinson's disease sufferers will continue unaffected, despite a European row over its patent application.

The German government was this week expected to demand the withdrawal of a patent that the European Patent Office granted to Edinburgh in December, claiming that this allowed the university to clone human beings. The EPO said the patent's scope did not extend to human cloning, but apologised for a "regrettable error" in the patent wording, which it said should have included the qualification "non-human" beside "animal".