Stem Cell Patents Under Fire
by GoozNews ~ 04 May 2010 01:12pm
California-based Consumer Watchdog and the New York City-based Public Patent Foundation, which last month won a court suit invalidating Myriad Genetic's claims to the BRCA1/2 familial breast cancer genes, won a major victory for open science last week when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's appeals board ruled that the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation's patents on embryonic stem cells lines were invalid. Reports the Milwaukee Business Journal:
The groups argue that the work done by University of Wisconsin researcher James Thomson to isolate stem cell lines was obvious in the light of previous scientific research, making his work unpatentable. The groups claimed the three WARF patents were "impeding scientific progress and driving vital stem cell research overseas."
The public interest movement's mounting assault on patenting basic science could get set back by the U.S. Supreme Court next month through its ruling on In re Bielski. The high court last fall heard arguments in the case, which involved a method of analyzing risk for a commodities trading strategy that had been deemed unpatentable by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal District. Hedge funds may seem far afield from biotechnology patents, but the basic questions are similar: Can someone patent the discovery of what are essentially laws of nature (DNA, math, whatever) without having an additional "hand of man" step.
I am afraid the business friendly Roberts court won't have the best interests of basic scientists or consumers in mind when it makes its ruling.
mgoozner's blog
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