Patents, gendered bodies and innovation: a case study on contraceptives

Jessica C Lai

Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, 2025, vol. 20, issue 1, 46-60

Abstract: The Anthropocene, while a recently popularized term, is part of a long history theorizing human impact globally. Since the 1970s, a chief focus of modulating this impact was population control. While the Anthropocene is about the human impact on the Earth, to date, the contraceptive burden lies with women, using invasive technologies that can have highly detrimental side effects.This article uses patent records to consider the sources of this disparity, including how post-grant patent law theories based on incentives to innovate ignore gender narratives and the varying ways in which society evaluates different bodies, and how this has different consequences for invention and innovation.As we are not yet in a post-gender world, it is important that our post-grant patent theory considers gender. This is necessary if we are to meet the challenges that face all of humankind.

Date: 2025
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