New York Times coverage of the WARF v. Geron stemcell rights lawsuit: nytimes.com (may require free registration)
Excerpts:
"At the University of Wisconsin, Thomson isolated human embryonic stem cells with funding almost exclusively from Geron. The university received a patent for stem cells and assigned Geron the exclusive commercial rights to grow embryonic stem cells into liver, heart and brain cells.
"The school also gave Geron the option to obtain the exclusive rights to other adult cell types, which Geron CEO Thomas Okarma claims gives his company the ``worldwide exclusive commercial rights'' to stem cells.
"Geron's option with the university expired July 31. Geron claimed it has exercised its rights to pursue the additional cell types. The University of Wisconsin asserted otherwise, and the issue is now before a federal judge in Madison, Wis." [snip]
"For months, some academic researchers have complained of Geron's aggressive attempts to dominate the field.
"They say Geron's claim to exclusive rights to nearly all stem cell research has prevented them from working with human embryonic stem cells.
"To work with Geron and its stem cells, researchers are required to sign contracts, called material transfer agreements, that limit what they can publicly say and publish.
"``Geron's agreements are hostile and punitive,'' said Rockefeller University researcher Ali Hemmati Brevanlou, who works with animal embryonic stem cells.
"Brevanlou wants to expand his research to include human embryonic stem cell and said he approached Geron earlier this year. But Rockefeller officials wouldn't let Brevanlou sign a material transfer agreement offered by Geron.
"Brevanlou said Geron's agreements required him to never publish or talk about his work with the company.
"``Those were really impossible terms to work under,'' Brevanlou said. ``There was no freedom whatsoever.'' " |
