Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-24T00:29:58.723Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Pilot Survey on the Licensing of DNA Inventions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

Intellectual property in biotechnology invention provides important incentives for research and development leading to advances in genetic tests and treatments. However, there have been numerous concerns raised regarding the negative effect patents on gene sequences and their practical applications may have on clinical research and the availability of new medical tests and procedures. One concern is that licensing policies attempting to capture for the benefit of the licensor valuable rights to downstream research results and products may increase the financial risks and cliniinish potential payoffs of — and therefore motivation for — performing downstream research and development. In addition, very broad patent claims allowed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the sheer growth in patents claiming genetic sequences, and threats of overlapping patents create a veritable minefield for researchers in both academia and industry. The concern is that research may be stifled because of the high cost and hassle of negotiating access.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Poste, G., “The Case for Genomic Patenting,” Nature, 378 (1995): 534–36; Doll, J., “The Patenting of DNA,” Science, 280 (1998): 689–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Institutes of Health, Report of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Working Group on Research Tools, at <http://www.nih.gov/news/researchtools/> (last visited September 9, 2003).+(last+visited+September+9,+2003).>Google Scholar
Heller, M. Eisenberg, R., “Can Patents Deter Innovation? The Anticommons in Biomedical Research,” Science, 280 (1998): 698701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, M. Eisenberg, R., “Patenting Genes Response,” Science, 281 (1998): 517.Google Scholar
Delphion Intellectual Property Network, IP Search, at <http://www.delphion.com> (last visited September 9, 2003).+(last+visited+September+9,+2003).>Google Scholar
Mowery, D.C. et al., “The Growth of Patenting and Licensing by U.S. Universities: An Assessment of the Effects of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980,” Research Policy, 30 (2001): 99119, at 116.Google Scholar
35 U.S.C.§ 202(c)(7)(D) (2002).Google Scholar
Schissel, A. Merz, J.F. Cho, M.K., “Survey Confirms Fears About Licensing of Genetic Tests,” Nature, 402 (1999): 118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Institutes of Health, Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement, at <http://www.niehs.nih.gov/techxfer/infubmta.htm> (last visited September 9, 2003).+(last+visited+September+9,+2003).>Google Scholar
Association of University Technology Managers, Inc., AUTM Licensing Survey, FY 1999, at <http://www.autm.net/Surveys/99/Survey99A.pdf> (last visited September 9, 2003).+(last+visited+September+9,+2003).>Google Scholar
Personal Communication from Theodore J. Roumel to author (J.F. Merz) (February 22, 2002).Google Scholar
Henry, M.R. et al., “DNA Patent and Licensing,” Science, 297 (2002): 1279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, S.M. et al., “Ownership of the Human Genome,” Nature 380 (1996): 387–88; Thomas, S.M. et al., “Public-Sector Patents on Human DNA,” Nature, 388 (1997): 709: Thomas, S.M. Hopkins, M.M. Brady, M., “Shares in the Human Genome — The Future of Patenting DNA,” National Biotechnology, 20 (2002): 1185–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, J. Arora, A. Cohen, W., The Patenting of Research Tools and Biomedical Invention, paper presented at the Conference on New Research on the Operation and Effects of the Patent System, National Academy of Science, Washington, D.C., October 22, 2001; see Henry, et al., supra note 12.Google Scholar
See Mowery, et al., supra note 6.Google Scholar
Rai, A.K., “Regulating Scientific Research: Intellectual Property Rights and the Norms of Science,” Northwestern University Law Review, 94 (1999): 77152, at 112.Google Scholar
Katz, D. Merz, J.F., “Patents and Licensing, Policy, Patenting of Inventions Developed with Public Funds,” in Mehlman, M.J. Murray, T., eds., Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues in Biotechnology (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000): 854–66.Google Scholar
See NIH, supra note 2.Google Scholar