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Dolly Cloning Method Patented

Posted by Hemos on from the deserved-patents dept.

Cy Guy writes "The BBC is reporting that Roslin Institute, along with two government agencies that helped fund the research, has been awarded a UK patent for the technology used to produce a clone of Dolly the Sheep in 1996. Roslin has already been sold an exclusive license for the technology to the U.S. company Geron for $45M. "

1 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Dangerous ground. by TheDullBlade · · Score: 5

    While this certainly seems to be a reasonable application of patent law, rewarding a genuinely impressive advancement of the state of the art, I wonder what kind of precedent this sets.

    After all, this is not a machine or mechanism, but a procedure developed in the course of scientific research.

    To what degree will this inhibit research into improvements on the method?

    What if somebody patented a medical operation? "I'm sorry, Doctor, if you remove that tumor we'll have to sue you."

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