Look up "patent" in your dictionary and you'll find "plain and evident" among its definitions. But because patents seethe with contradictions, questions surrounding them are hardly plain, and their answers hardly evident. Patents shrink one public domain (by granting exclusionary rights to inventors) while expanding another (by requiring inventors to disclose their designs).
Biotechnology
Public debates over controversial biotechnologies often revolve around questions about who will control them and what values will guide their development. Because patent policies shape the social, economic and legal environment for technological innovation and application, those concerned with the ethics and social implications of biotechnology have a significant stake in intellectual property issues.