from the I-own-the-code-that-makes-your-liver dept.
Confused about the rationale behind the patenting of genes found in nature? Find out by reading Technology Review's Sept/Oct 2000 story by Antonio Regalado The Great Gene Grab. An excerpt: "However, when it comes to human genesโฆlegal precedent offers a way around that prohibition, namely that genes captured and identified in the lab arenรญt in their natural formโฆFrom the point of view of patent law, a gene is just another man-made chemical." Also of interest in that issue: The Case for Gene Patents by William A. Hazeltine, whose comments on atomic-scale engineering have been cited favorably here on nanodot, and Toward Sharing the Genome by Seth Shulman, author of the book Owning the Future.
