Professor Aisling McMahon recently published a chapter entitled “The “ethical” regulation of “novel being” technologies: the potential role for patents as ethical drivers, blockers and guiders?” in an edited collection on “Novel Beings: Regulatory Approaches for a Future of New Intelligent Life” (Edward Elgar 2022). This collection was edited by Dr David Lawrence (Durham University) and Dr Sarah Morley (Newcastle University) and brings together a collection of chapters examining the regulation of novel beings i.e. beings created by novel emerging technologies which are possessed with some degree of moral status, even potentially sentient or sapient life.
Aisling’s chapter focuses on the role patents could play in embedding ethical approaches to the regulation of “novel being” technology i.e., in steering the development and use of “novel being” technologies in an ethical manner. It argues that patents have potential to act as drivers, blockers and guiders of ‘ethical’ approaches to the development and use of “novel being” technologies. It also calls for deeper investigation of such issues, if patents are to be utilised more broadly to assist in the regulation of ‘novel being’ technologies. Further information about this chapter and edited collection is available here.
Professor McMahon’s research focuses primarily on health law and intellectual property law, she has published widely in both fields. Aisling is the PI on the PatentsInHumans project (2022-2027) a five year interdisciplinary project funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant which examines the role of bioethics in patent grant and licensing decision-making in Europe for technologies related to the human body.