"Gene patents" refer to the legal protection granted to specific genes or genetic sequences, allowing individuals or organizations to have exclusive rights over their use and commercialization. This means that no one else can use, study, or develop products related to these specific genes without the permission of the patent holder.
Full definition
Two advocacy groups joined with cancer patients and doctors yesterday to launch a sweeping attack on
human gene patents.
A court case surrounding
gene patents for high - risk forms of breast cancer puts two viewpoints of «products of nature» on the stand.
If a scientist wanted to compare brands of seeds, for instance, or their environmental impact, he or she had to seek permission from each seed company or
gene patent holder.
Those opposed to
gene patents complain that no one without the permission of the patent holder is allowed to freely work with, or even think about using, this 20 percent.
«It also exposes practical concerns
around gene patents, including access to the gene mutation for research and testing purposes,» she says.
Many other US
gene patents issued before the human genome was sequenced are no longer enforced, because the companies that hold them have stopped paying maintenance fees.
Biotech companies got a break today when a U.S. appeals court handed down a long - awaited ruling
on gene patents in a case prompted by a suit involving Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City.
Bale estimates that about 8 per cent of the genes her company tests for are covered
by gene patents that require her to pay royalties.
Plomer uses the historic overturning by the US Supreme Court of the decades - old policy by the US Patents and Trademark Office on
gene patents as an example.
-LSB-...] is the original post: US Government Intervenes in Patentability of Genes — Patent Baristas Related Posts: BIO and AUTM Fire Back
at Gene Patent Foes — Patent Baristas Patent Baristas -LSB-...]
It has used
broad gene patents to operate a monopoly over testing for the two BRCA genes, which when mutated can cause inherited forms of breast cancer.
Organisations hoping to
ban gene patenting, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are delighted by the DOJ's view.
An ongoing legal battle
over gene patents has led many scientists to ask whether such claims help or hinder research...
It's been three weeks since Judge Sweet's ruling in Association for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO (or as it is more widely known, the
Myriad gene patent litigation) and it's still generating quite a bit of conversation.
Cookies, leaves, and baseball bats — just some of the metaphors that Supreme Court justices suggested this week as they struggled to understand the complex science behind the Myriad
gene patent case.
A big concern
about gene patents is that they hinder genetic research — once one company has patented a gene, other researchers may fear infringing on that patent by conduct further research on it, the argument goes.
Access to genetic testing Some say
gene patents restrict access to genetic testing, and in some cases, prevent patients from being tested at all.
As with the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Australian opponents of
gene patenting argue that it discourages research by placing financial and legal hurdles in front of scientists who are seeking to work with patented biological material.
But according to many who
oppose gene patents, that's five years too many — too many more women will be without a second opinion or an opportunity to purchase a cheaper test to help decide whether or not to undergo a radical surgical procedure.
The judge tweaked the Justice Department, noting that its brief contradicts the policy of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which has
backed gene patents for more than 2 decades.
For the moment though, the question lingers:
do gene patents do more harm than good?
-LSB-...] more here: US Government Intervenes in Patentability of Genes — Patent Baristas Related Posts: BIO and AUTM Fire Back at
Gene Patent Foes — Patent Baristas Patent Baristas -LSB-...]
In a statement, BIO President and CEO James Greenwood notes that Judge Sweet's decision «explicitly excluded» the ACLU - PUBPAT argument that
gene patents harm research and medicine.
The Biotechnology Industry Association of Washington, D.C., which supported Myriad, denies that
gene patents impede the flow of information.
«
Gene patents defy common sense,» says Chris Hansen, one of the ACLU lawyers handling the case.
Your editorial
condemning gene patents describes as «tenuous» the argument that «isolating a gene upgrades it from a discovery to...
HOW»S this for a brain teaser:
gene patents scrapped last year on the grounds that they were based on natural molecules were last week reinstated on the grounds that the molecules are, after all, unnatural.
It could undercut
certain gene patents that seek to claim DNA sequences themselves as an invention rather than as part of a process.
Details of the patent argument Geoffrey Karny, a patent lawyer in Virginia, doesn't buy the argument that
gene patents hurt patients.
The history of
gene patents Almost 30 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Diamond v. Chakrabarty that a genetically modified bacterium was a patentable subject matter.
The justices concluded that an Indiana farmer, Vernon Hugh Bowman, violated the company's intellectual property rights when he refused to pay royalties on unlabeled soybeans he bought that
contained genes patented by the company.
He also speculates that the lower court «could logically find» that, in light of today's ruling, isolated DNA cited in the Myriad
BRCA gene patents is «unpatentable.»
The net effect of this complex ruling is to
validate gene patents as a legal concept but reject claims made by Myriad for diagnostically using the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 to identify mutations that carry a high risk for breast and ovarian cancer.
After the U.S. Supreme Court last year invalidated human
gene patents held by Utah - based Myriad Genetics, the firm's competitors launched an array of products aimed at cracking Myriad's stranglehold on the breast cancer gene testing market.
The impact of the decision on other companies may depend on exactly
how gene patent claims are worded.
The case highlights concerns that a network of
individual gene patents could threaten the future of personalized medicine and whole - genome sequencing by blocking companies and clinicians from reporting a patient's genetic risk factors for different diseases.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., - Nathan Reed, Ph.D. and associate in Brooks Kushman «s Southfield office, was quoted in the Michigan Lawyers Weekly article «U.S. Supreme Court
Splits Gene Patents Issue,» which ran in the June 24 issue of the publication.
If those pesky patent examiners are giving you problems with your
latest gene patent application, perhaps you need a better patent attorney.
Let me show how the distinction is both missing and operative in the case of the BRCA1 and
BRCA2 gene patents.
In 2014, CHEO launched the Federal Court challenge against the owners of five
gene patents related to the potentially deadly Long QT syndrome.
ASHG 2011: ICHG / ASHG 2011 Plenary Debate
on Gene Patenting and the Impact on Medical Genetics Features World - renown Panel of Genetics and Legal Experts ICHG / ASHG Plenary Panel Debate - October 14, 2011
Myriad Genetics has used
broad gene patents to operate a monopoly over testing for the two BRCA genes, which when mutated can cause inherited forms of breast cancer.
After publishing Next in 2006, Michael Crichton advised policymakers to
ban gene patents and establish clear guidelines for patients rights.
If the New York ruling is upheld on appeal, experts say, hundreds or even thousands of
human gene patents could be put in limbo.