The Patenting of DNA John J. Doll

Can Patents Deter Innovation? The Anticommons in Biomedical Research Michael A. Heller and Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Resolution of current debates regarding intellectual property rights will have major effects on the future development of DNA-based approaches to medicine as well as the biotechnology industry. Two points of view in this debate have been published in Science and we welcome your involvement in the discussion. The U. S. Patent and Trademarks Office has provided the first comprehensive statement of their position that patenting of DNA sequence elements represents a situation similar to other patentable materials, in which patenting can promote the release of information. Heller and Eisenberg express their concerns that the proliferation of patents and licenses could endanger the progress of biomedical research.

To have your comments included, please mail them to Dr. Barbara Jasny, Senior Editor, Science at bjasny{at}aaas.org.

• Robert Mullan Cook-Deegan, M.D.
  Author, The Gene Wars: Science, Politics and the Human Genome (New York: W.W. Norton, 1994)
• Rochelle K. Seide, Ph.D.
  Partner in the Intellectual Property group of Baker & Botts, L.L.P and
  Janet M. MacLeod, Ph.D
  Associate in the Intellectual Property group of Baker & Botts, L.L.P
• Sanyin Siang
  Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program, AAAS
• Thomas G. Field, Jr.
  Professor of Law Franklin Pierce Law Center

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