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Originally posted by NISMOALTI
reply to post by ProphecyPhD
if the us was to engineer a something like a super soldier, would you want another country to be able to copy it and user something like that aginst us.
Originally posted by Manawydan
Interesting subject. On one side I am all for being able to patent a DNA sequence that I or my team came up with, is unique and above all does not (in the form patented) occur elsewhere in nature.
On the other side, I am strongly opposed to anyone being able to patent a sequence that they've found and is readily observable in nature be it potential cancer patients or elsewhere.
Likewise, any patented sequence would only pretend to the original "parent DNA". Any offspring due to cross-breeding in nature is no longer protected.edit on 3-8-2011 by Manawydan because: Typos
Originally posted by hotpinkurinalmint
reply to post by dawnstar
The US Patent office will not grant patents for genetically modified people on policy grounds. No need to worry about anybody patenting a race of super humans.
Originally posted by hotpinkurinalmint
reply to post by ProphecyPhD
1. In order to get a patent, your invention has to be novel and not obvious. If I was able to perform a similar process for implanting DNA, you probably could not patent your process because it would not be novel or not obvious.
2. Even if you could patent your "invention", you would not "own" the genes themselves. You would own the process that isolates and/or implants the genes and genes that have been isolated from that process. If I can figure out a different way to isolate and/or implant those genes, I would not be infringing your patent.
So if i figure out a way to extract (and implant) blonde hair and blue eyes...
Colloquial usage of the term gene (e.g. "good genes", "hair color gene") may actually refer to an allele: a gene is the basic instruction, a sequence of nucleic acids (DNA or, in the case of certain viruses RNA), while an allele is one variant of that gene. source