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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (98475)	3/14/2000 9:09:00 PM
From: Bill Jackson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1570744

Daniel, I suspect that they will refuse to grant patents on the automated discovery of a gene.....after all it is a machine product and not a creative work, more like a list of cars in a parking lot. The methods of modulating genes are true works worth patenting on a case by case basis. The ability to turn off a gene that causes cancer, or turn on a gene to make a dwarf grow are worthy purposes and thos that do the work have earned their short monopoly....after they make the drug, get approvale etc, they will be lucky to have 5-7 years of protection. In addition a really powerful discovery, like a 100% cure for a certain widespread disease will get end run for humanitarian reasons in other countries that eschew genome patents. As for those patents granted, many will be defeated when their non-intellectual origin is revealed. Bill

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (98475)	3/15/2000 12:34:00 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 1570744

RE:"Sure sounds like gene patents to me. And personally, yes, I think patenting a naturally occurring gene is somewhat bogus"... There appears to be an point of contention between naturaly occuring, recessive, mutant, modified etc. and where the line is drawn will determine whether it's worth a companies money to pursue it... Too much to get into here...but I do agree that the basic genome should be and is available to all. Modification and manipulation may be patentable. In the case of the AIDs prevention gene patented by HGSI, I'm not sure it is naturally occuring or modified gene. My educated guess is that it's natural but only occurs in a very small % of the population. No wonder HGSI was taken down today with a vengence. Appreciate your efforts.