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Is Just Yeast Justice? An Ultimate Patent Question and All About Evolution, Intelligent Design and Creation: Genes and the Human Genome

By Andis Kaulins

Here is an ultimate -- hypothetical -- patent question, based on the following article and gene patenting, which some observers -- in our view, erroneously -- support:

If a researcher "discovers" a gene in yeast that later turns up in the human genome, can he claim patent rights to that gene in humans and elsewhere, no matter where that gene turns up?

Only a view that "genes" are not and should not be patentable leads to a sane solution. All else leads to a Pandora's Box of patent chaos. We refer here to our recent posting at How SWEET It Is! Gene Patents Ruled Invalid as Genes are Found to be Non-patentable Subject Matter.

Carl Zimmer at the New York Times begins his article The Search for Genes Leads to Unexpected Places as follows:

"Edward M. Marcotte is looking for drugs that can kill tumors by stopping blood vessel growth, and he and his colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin recently found some good targets ? five human genes that are essential for that growth. Now they?re hunting for drugs that can stop those genes from working. Strangely, though, Dr. Marcotte did not discover the new genes in the human genome, nor in lab mice or even fruit flies. He and his colleagues found the genes in yeast."

Definitely worth a full read.

Full post as published by LawPundit on April 27, 2010 (boomark / email).