BACK TO GENE PATENT MEDIA CENTER
October 3, 2006
CRS Report to Congress – Gene Patents: A Brief Overview of Intellectual Property Issues
The Congressional Research Service
“The courts have upheld gene patents that meet the criteria of patentability defined by the Patent Act. However, the practice of awarding patents on genes has come under intense scrutiny by some scientists, legal scholars, politicians, and other experts. Gene patenting raises ethical, legal, and economic issues…” read more
Summer 2006
Who Owns Your Body? A Patient’s Perspective on Washington University v. Catalona
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
“In 1890 a man sold the rights to his body after death to the Royal Caroline Institute in Sweden for research purposes. Later, he tried to return the money and cancel the contract. In the subsequent lawsuit, the court held that he must turn his body over to the Institute and also ordered him to pay damages for diminishing the worth of his body by having two teeth removed…” read more
March 2005
Health Care Policy Issues as a Result of the Genetic Revolution: Implications for Public Health
American Journal of Public Health
“The genetic revolution has spawned 4 distinct issues of universal importance to health care policy and society: genetic privacy, regulation and standardization of genetic tests, gene patenting, and education …” read more
2003
The Race to Patent the Genome: Free Riders, Hold Ups, and the Future of Medical Breakthroughs
Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal
“Genes tell us who our parents were, who we are, and who our children will be. Genes hold the key to why one person is bald, another is tall, and another has a fatal heart attack. In order to understand health and battle disease, scientists seek an understanding of these genes, hoping to improve our lives and cure the diseases that plague us …” read more
July 2002
The Ethics of Patenting DNA, A Discussion Paper
Nuffield Council on Bioethics
“We note that many patents that assert rights over DNA sequences have already been granted but are of doubtful validity. The effects of many of these patents are extensive, because inventors who assert rights over DNA sequences obtain protection on all uses of the sequences …” read more
BACK TO GENE PATENT MEDIA CENTER