The Battle to Patent Your Genes

April 12, 1955 was a day of celebration. Across the United States, church bells rang, sirens blew, and people poured into the streets singing and dancing. The rejoicing was a spontaneous response to news that field trials of Jonas Salk's vaccine against the dread polio virus had been successful. The public had avidly followed the search for a vaccine for years. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers had participated in the trials, and tens of millions contributed dimes, quarters and dollars to the effort. According to a 1954 Gallup poll, more Americans knew about the polio field trials than knew the full name of their President, Dwight David Eisenhower.

On the day the field tests were pronounced a success, Edward R. Murrow interviewed Salk live on his television show See It Now. "Who owns the patent on this vaccine?" Murrow asked. "Well, the people, I would say", Salk replied. "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

What a difference a half century makes. Today, patent applications are a part of the research routine, especially in the life sciences...