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The Modern Law Library

‘Patenting Life’ shares tales from a career on the cutting edge of science and the law

By Lee Rawles

April 9, 2025, 8:45 am CDT

Jorge Goldstein entered the fields of science and law at a time of immense change for them both.

In the 1970s, huge strides were being made in biogenetics and microbiology. And in the 1980s, the intellectual property community was being asked to answer some giant questions that they raised, such as: How can you describe life, legally? Can a living being be patented? Who owns the material from your body?

The 45 years since the groundbreaking 1980 case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty, in which the U.S. Supreme Court decided that living organisms could be patented, have been an intensely busy time for microbiologists, biochemists, genetic researchers and the patent lawyers who serve them. Goldstein, who has a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University and a JD from the George Washington University Law School, has been on hand to witness and help shape many of the resulting debates.

In Patenting Life: Tales from the Front Lines of Intellectual Property and the New Biology, Goldstein weaves stories from his life and practice with the fascinating histories behind some well-known medications, lesser-known scientists and groundbreaking court cases that will shape future scientific ventures. In this episode of The Modern Law Library podcast, he and the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles discuss the book and the fascinating career that he’s had.

In the book, Goldstein explains many of the scientific developments behind discoveries such as CRISPR (short for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”)—a gene-editing technology that scientists use to modify DNA—in a way that lay people can understand while offering humanizing looks at the quirky and sometimes-flawed scientists who made those discoveries.

Large moral and ethical questions are raised about how technologies are developed, commercialized and put into practice, and he does not shy away from the discussions. He also offers his perspective on how patent law can be improved to fund further scientific advancements while also protecting innovation.

Goldstein and Rawles discuss key cases that helped shape genetic research and some of the major changes that he’s seen in legal theory over his career. They also discuss “tikkun olam,” a concept in Judaism about how our actions can repair and improve the world. It’s something that Goldstein thinks is a proper focus for science and for law, and they discuss two of the pro bono projects that he has worked on with Indigenous communities in which he can use patent law to protect their rights.

Finally, Goldstein offers advice to young scientists and attorneys who are interested in practicing in these fields and shares his opinion on what artificial intelligence could mean in the patent law sphere.

In This Podcast:

Jorge Goldstein

Jorge Goldstein is a founder and senior director of Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, a prominent intellectual property law firm in Washington, D.C. He has 46 years of experience in prosecuting, licensing and litigating biotechnology patents. In 1988, Goldstein was the lead counsel in In re Wands, a pivotal decision on biotechnology enablement. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a PhD in chemistry from Harvard University and a JD from the George Washington University Law School.