The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has been permitting biotechnology corporations to patent genes they find in nature. Think about that. You might have a unique gene for immunity to cancer, and a corporation could harvest it, isolate it, and own it.
Oh, they don't claim that you would owe them licensing fees. Yet.
Amid the reports of persistently widespread political desire to return to the Dark Ages - or at least to the Robber Baron Era - there's a small piece of good news: The Obama administration has stated in federal court that the PTO should not hold this bizarre position.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Who owns you?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
You have the gene by genetic lottery. A company sinks $7 million proving that gene prevents cancer. And you win the patent lottery? Like owning sand and claiming ownership of the microchip. But you can see sand, so even that is too extreme. (Hey, welcome me back - glad your still breathing after your drubbing).
I have lots of positives by the genetic lottery, not to mention more by the cultural, social, and parental lotteries (though nothing compared to Paris Hilton on the last one). I still own them, though not the patent on them.
If you would read a little more closely, you'd see that I'm objecting to patenting the gene at all.
As for my drubbing, we kicked ass here in Massachusetts. Your ass.
My former ass. You'll get no more taxes out of my hide.
And yet you obsessively comment on the Boston Globe and Massachusetts politics...
Too boring for you in New Hampshire? Get outside. It's a beautiful place.
Post a Comment