U.S. Says Genes Should Not Be Eligible for Patents

[KerryOdair]

New York Times Business Day
Published: October 29, 2010

Reversing a longstanding policy, the federal government said on Friday that human and other genes should not be eligible for patents because they are part of nature. The new position could have a huge impact on medicine and on the biotechnology industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/business/30drug.html?_r=3

[KerryOdair]

Update: The saga continues through the courts on this issue

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/human-genes-can-be-patented-federal-court-rules/18051

Why the change in ruling? The court said that DNA isolated from the body was eligible to be patented because its chemical structure is “markedly different” than that of DNA inside chromosomes.

Its finding defies the Obama administration’s argument that isolated DNA should not be patented. As you might expect, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has not entertained patents of this nature.

Despite the ruling, there’s one catch: the process to evaluate whether a patient’s genes had mutations that increased his or her risk of cancer was not patentable.

http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/...rs/10-1406.pdf The ruling some 19 pages