There is a considerable current debate going on as to the ethical, environmental, socio-biological and economic implications of man's use of biotechnology. A particular conflict revolves around the possible patenting of genetically engineered life-forms. It is as difficult, sometimes, for biologists to grasp the socio-legal arguments over these matters as it is for lawyers and philosophers to understand the underlying science and technology. The biologists’ problems will be lessened by a study of the proceedings of a conference jointly convened by the Intellectual and Industrial Property Society and the Monash University Centre for Human Bioethics, held in Melbourne, Australia in October 1990. Selected papers from this conference were printed in 1991 in Intellectual Property Forum: Journal of the Intellectual and Industrial Property Society. The eleven published papers, which mainly cover the ethical, social and legal arguments over the patenting and commercialization of new life-forms, are a most useful source of opinion and information in this difficult but most important technological area.