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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rudedog who wrote (96083)	3/14/2002 11:16:36 AM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

rude: I haven't talked to you in a looooooong time. I hope that all is well with you. In your opinion, will the merger vote pass or fail?? El

To: rudedog who wrote (96083)	3/15/2002 6:48:44 AM
From: hlpinout	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 97611

Hi Rudedog, Always nice to have you drop by. So is this a maybe, woulda, coulda, or non-event for Compaq? --March 15, 2002 03:06 Compaq CEO Sees Problems with Patenting Genetic Information By Hiawatha Bray, The Boston Globe Mar. 15--It's one of the toughest questions in biotechnology: Should businesses obtain patents on genetic information about plants, animals or humans? Michael Capellas, CEO of Compaq Computer Corp., surprised an audience of biotechnology specialists yesterday when he suggested that the answer should be "no." Compaq is a leading maker of supercomputer gear used by biotechnology companies, an area of computing called "bioinformatics." Compaq computers help create genetic maps of organisms and analyze chemical molecules in search of powerful new drugs. So Capellas was right at home yesterday as he addressed the BioITWorld conference, a bioinformatics trade show in Boston. Capellas noted that, in his early career, he worked at the oil services firm Schlumberger, using supercomputers to analyze geological data in search of oil deposits. But that was easy compared to the task of creating computer models of living organisms. "In very few cases have we ever seen such a disparate range of data," he said. As a result, Capellas said there's a constant demand for ever more powerful computers capable of quickly analyzing immense volumes of data. Compaq now makes machines that can run 30 trillion operations per second, he said, with 100 trillion "teraops" machines coming up by 2005. The hundreds of biotech executives and venture capitalists at yesterday's conference hope to make immense profits by turning that processed data into salable products. Some aim to do this by obtaining patents on genetic information that they discover along the way. But this is a controversial idea, with some critics arguing that because genes are a part of nature, businesses shouldn't be able to own them. In a comment that stunned the audience into several seconds of silence, Capellas responded to a question on the issue by flatly saying that companies shouldn't be able to patent genes. But he quickly backed away from the comment, pleading ignorance of all the ramifications of the issue. "If you're asking me what should be patentable," Capellas said, "I don't know." In a later telephone interview, Capellas stressed that companies had a right to control their scientific discoveries. "I absolutely believe that the intellectual property must be protected," he said. Original processes and products growing out of genetic research should definitely be subject to patent protection, he said. But he repeated his concern that patent law might not be the best way to deal with basic genetic information. "I'm not sure if the best way you do that is taking individual components and patenting them," Capellas said. "That process doesn't lend itself well to this new world of bioinformatics." Capellas has a lot on his mind these days, especially next week's shareholder vote on the proposed merger between Compaq and Hewlett-Packard Co. While he refused to discuss the merger in detail, he expressed optimism that the deal would go through. "As I continue to meet with large investors," he said, "I do think we have pretty good momentum." -----