[FYI] USPTO on DNA patents

["Ralf Stephan" <ralf@ark.in-berlin.de>]

According to slashdot:

http://www.ljx.com/cgi-bin/f_cat?prod/ljextra/data/texts/2000_0108_59.html
(PTO's new guide to DNA info)

     ...
	 Many in the scientific community are opposed to any attempts to
     patent these small DNA segments, claiming that such patents could
     deprive researchers of essential tools in the future. In 1996,
     scientists working in this area adopted the "Bermuda Principles,"
     which call for the release--typically by posting on the
     Internet--of sequences "as soon as possible," often within 24 hours
     of their discovery. And, in fact, any laboratory funded by the
     National Human Genome Research Initiative is required to implement
     such a data-release program.
     
     Those who believe that this early-stage genetic information should
     be freely available, instead of patent-protected, fall into Mr.
     Kushan's definition of "theologians'' who "don't like patents in
     this area." He predicted that they will probably not be happy with
     the new guidelines, thinking that the PTO hasn't gone far enough to
     prevent the wholesale patenting of small segments.
     ...


ralf
-- 
http://www.in-berlin.de/User/rws/
It's all like keeping two or three ants together.
Any Marxist has to explain what jurisdictional system should be part of
utopia, and then test it by letting a Sakharov/Bonner be free from start.