INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Genes Are Still Patentable, Federal Appeals Court Rules
An appellate court reinstated Myriad Genetics exclusive rights to research two cancer-linked genes, leaving others researching these genes out in the cold.
PATENT RIGHTS
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Transnational Corp. over Stanford University in Patent Case
The Supreme Court’s answer to the question of who owns the products of federally funded research highlights tensions within academic-industrial relationships in research and development.
PATENT REFORM
Patent Reform and the Progress of Innovation
Our patent system is in need of reform. Could the stars be aligned for a bipartisan triumph in this Congress?
INNOVATION
Silos of Small Beer
Older industrial areas such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown are places with substantial infrastructure and a proud industrial heritage that are struggling to redefine themselves in the global economy. Entrepreneurship and innovation are the most viable strategies for the economic future of the region.
GENOMICS
Court Rules that DNA Is Information, Not Intellectual Property
A lawsuit argued that patents owned by Myriad Genetics on two genes connected to breast and ovarian cancer stunt genetic research and limit access to health care for women. The ruling said that genes can’t be patented.
Federal Agencies and Research Universities Pledge to Speed Medical Advances to Developing Nations
Earlier this week, six research universities announced a set of shared principles for increasing access to new medicines in poor countries. Boston University, Brown, Harvard, the Oregon Health and Science University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale joined the Association [...]
Green Light for Gene Patent Lawsuit
A U.S. District Court judge ruled Monday that a gene patent lawsuit filed against the Patent and Trademark Office could move forward. At issue are patents exclusively licensed by Myriad Genetics for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Mutations of the [...]
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Do Gene Patents Hurt Research?
Controversies over gene patents often ignore the lack of evidence that they impede basic research. The more important concern may be the negative impact of the push to commercialize science.
INNOVATION CLUSTERS
Time for a More Open Approach?
“Open innovation” challenges the assumptions made by university technology transfer offices about maximizing the value of their intellectual property.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
How Genes Are Like Plutonium
Patenting unmodified genes rewards discovery, not invention. We must prohibit the process and invalidate all claims to unmodified genes to facilitate more open science.
Quick Takes on Science and Tech in the President’s Budget
A quick glance at a couple early takes on R&D funding in President Obama’s budget request outline for FY2010: Science Insider: NIH details are sketchy, but include increases; NSF would see 8.5 percent bump; more for scientific facilities though DOE’s [...]
INNOVATION
Patent Reform 101
Inventions are being created at an ever-increasing pace and have grown increasingly complex, but the rules governing patents have not seen substantial change in decades. As a result, the system is bogged down, hampering investment and job creation. Here’s how to fix things.
LEGAL POLICY
Patent Trolls Erode the Foundation of the U.S. Patent System
By far, the most significant and destabilizing change in the patent environment since 2003 has been the dramatic increase in the growth, financing, and patent acquisitions of so called non-practicing entities, or “patent trolls.”
EU Rejects Stem Cell Patent Applications
At the end of last week, Reuters reported that the European Patent Office issued its final ruling rejecting a patent application for the stem cell technology based on the work of James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin. Filed in 1995 by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the patent, according to the EPO release “describes a method for obtaining embryonic stem cell cultures from primates, including humans.”
Scientific Reasoning Should be the Starting Point in Policy Debates
Rep. Bill Foster talks about the balance between commercial science and basic long-term research, the importance of math and science education, and the need for scientific reasoning as the basis of policy discussions.
Judge Says “No” to New Patent Office Rules
On Tuesday, a Virginia district court rejected new U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rules intended to rein in the current patent application backlog. The ruling comes as a relief to companies involved in technically complex industries, especially biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms.
The Dish: Sampling Today’s News – January 17, 2008
Bush exemption for Navy sonar use; farmer loses to Monsanto; SLAC loses to budget; Japan hikes budget for stem cell research; Supreme Court opening arguments for patent case.
Blog Roundup: Dec 3, 2007
NASA has a new face on the web; the NIH says gene therapy wasn’t the cause of death in a recent trial; open-source standards and net neutrality can improve global health; and more.
But Is It Life?
The Guardian reported this past weekend that J. Craig Venter will soon announce that he has created artificial life. But even his spokesperson is saying that’s not the whole story.
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What We Work On
The Guardian reported this past weekend that J. Craig Venter will soon announce that he has created artificial life. Venter and his team of 20 scientists constructed a 381-gene chromosome, the bare minimum needed for a living organism. Based on the bacterium Mycoplasmum genitalium, they will then transplant this new genome, called Mycoplasmum laboratorium, into an already living bacterial cell.
This new bacteria could lead to the creation of lifeforms that might play roles in novel medical treatments, such as biofuels generation or the digestion of atmospheric CO2. Or they could lead to lifeforms that could also be used to create deadly biological weapons.
But the AFP quotes Venter's spokesperson Heather Kowalski as saying, "The Guardian is ahead of themselves on this." She has also promised that Venter's Institute will not announce the creation of artificial life until they publish a scientific paper on it. "We have not achieved what some have speculated we have in synthetic life," she explained. "When we do so there will be a scientific publication and we are likely months away from that."
Still, in October 2006 Venter did file for a patent on the essential Mycoplasmum laboratorium genome and synthetic "free-living organism." Whatever the case, science bloggers and academics are already busy examining how Venter's apparent quest could play out.
Ron Bailey at Reason's Hit & Run blog has a summation of how artificial life will change the discipline of biology. Nature blogger Philip Ball has a blog post from June about the intellectual property implications of patenting the basic building blocks of synthetic biology, even if they are isolated by researchers. And Arti Rai has an article on possible solutions to this problem in PLoS Biology.
For an international perspective, India's merinews has a skeptical article from a citizen, which claims that Venter's proposed creation would not be an artificial life form since it is made from a naturally existing organism with 80 percent of its genes knocked out.
For more on Venter himself, The Guardian has an excerpt from his 400-page autobiography, set to be released on October 18.What We Believe
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.