Justin Turner QC, gave an evening seminar entitled "Do we need patents for Embryonic Stem Cells?" on Thursday 2nd May 2013 at the Faculty of Law as a guest of CIPIL (the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law). Do patents matter? Stem cell science is, to a greater or lesser extent, to be denied patent protection. Apparently it is unethical, notwithstanding that it has been funded by national governments and the Commission. The reasons for this (which do not always appear in the judgments) will be considered. Unusually for IP, this talk will encompass political intrigue, the machinations of the Catholic church and, in a manner of speaking, sex. Justin Turner QC is a barrister who specialises in IP. He represented WARF before the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO in the leading case on stem cell patents and sat on GTAC, a government advisory committee on stem cell research. For more information see the CIPIL website at http://www.cipil.law.cam.ac.uk