Genome patenting concerns intensify

Patenting the human genome.

Patenting of genome research results.

In light of the enormous investments for the sequencing of genomes and the subsequent development of pharmaceuticals, obtaining patents for these results is a major goal of companies working in this area. This article focuses on the present situation concerning the possibility to obtain patent protection for genome research results, in particular at the European Patent Office (EPO), in the US a...

Playing God? Owning God?--Patenting and the human genome.

It is just over 50 years since James Watson and Francis Crick published the news of their discovery of the structure of DNA1 – the molecule that encodes the genetic information present in all living organisms. Their letter, published on 25 April 1953, signified the beginning of the modern age of biology.2 In 2001, as a result of the activities of public and private sector bodies working on the ...

Genome patents: a case study in patenting research tools.

Climate jostlings intensify

Angela Merkel, freshly re-elected as German chancellor, and thus the elected leader with the longest political life-expectancy, lost no time in making clear who’s really in charge of the European Union these days. First she met up with French president Nicolas Sarkozy to drive the last nails into the crumbling coffin of Tony Blair’s ambition to become EU ‘president’. Without even mentioning Bla...