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About Patents, Other Intellectual Property & Human Biotechnology


Human biotechnology is both constrained and catalyzed by intellectual property law, which regulates who can use certain information, ideas, and processes. Patents—one form of intellectual property—give the holder an exclusive right to produce and sell an invention.

While patents provide an incentive to inventors, they can also inhibit information flow. Their management has a tremendous impact on how biotechnologies are developed, and who benefits from them.

In the United States, the development of biotechnology has been dramatically influenced by two developments in 1980 that greatly increased the incentives for the commercialization of the life sciences. Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act, which reformed how inventions from federally-funded research are managed. The same year, the Supreme Court ruled in Diamond v. Chakrabarty that living things, including genes, could be patented.



Medical groups assail patenting of human genesby Elizabeth WeiseUSA TodayFebruary 3rd, 2010Groups representing thousands of doctors, scientists and patients argued in court that no one should be able to patent human genes.
IP lawyers defend IPby Jesse ReynoldsBiopolitical TimesNovember 17th, 2009On human gene patents, intellectual property lawyers in Australia take a firm stance--apparently a stronger position than that of the biotech industry.
Lawsuit against gene patents can proceed: judgeby Edith HonanReutersNovember 2nd, 2009A lawsuit challenging patents on two human genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer can move forward, a U.S. federal judge ruled.
Battle Over Human Gene Patents Buildsby Marcy DarnovskyBiopolitical TimesOctober 28th, 2009A key government committee, a progressive news show, and a federal judge are all reconsidering human gene patents.
Stakes rise in gene-patenting lawsuitby Tom HarveyThe Salt Lake City TribuneSeptember 29th, 2009A hearing is set to begin today in federal court in a lawsuit that poses a major challenge to the practice of granting patents on human genes.
CGS and other groups file brief in support of challenge to gene patentsby Jesse ReynoldsBiopolitical TimesSeptember 1st, 2009A number of social justice and women’s health organizations have filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of the ACLU / Public Patent Foundation lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of human gene patents.
Public interest groups support groundbreaking challenge to human gene patentsCenter for Genetics and Society, Pro-Choice Alliance for Responsible Research, other organizations file brief backing lawsuitSeptember 1st, 2009Public interest, social justice, and women’s health advocates filed a "friend of the court" brief in support of a groundbreaking lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and Public Patent Foundation challenging the constitutionality of human gene patents.
Gene Patent Lawsuit Draws Commentsby Marcy DarnovskyBiopolitical TimesAugust 19th, 2009The legal challenge to gene patents is the impetus for a new article by CGS staffers Jesse Reynolds and Marcy Darnovsky.
The Battle to Patent Your Genes The Meaning of the Myriad Caseby Marcy Darnovsky and Jesse ReynoldsThe American Interest (September - October 2009)A legal showdown looms over the patenting of human genes.
Senate push to ban gene patents [Australia]by Adam CresswellThe AustralianAugust 1st, 2009A bid to halt the patenting of human genes will be launched before an Australian Senate committee next week.
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