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Stem Cell Patent Torpedoes Research
g8orade writes: "This story says the University of Winsconsin owns patents that may prevent anyone spending that federal money soon. "As they carry out President Bush's plan for government financing of embryonic stem cell studies, federal health officials confront a daunting challenge: U.S. patent 6,200,806, a claim to the human embryonic stem cell." Originally in the NYT, this is a link to the not free account-requiring Charlotte Observer."
I continue to call the "need" for federal funding.
The stem cells that would be used are covered by a seemingly comprehensive patent by UW.
Univ. of Wis. has given exclusive rights to Geron (a company).
Geron will own anything done with these stem cells, including any "cures" that are discovered.
Geron is (presumably) willing to invest money (and already has) in the research in order to make money from this.
Why do we need federal funding of this? It seems like transferring taxpayer funds to the bottom line of hugebiotechcorp.com
Additionally, scientists working at the university of Wisconsin were reported as saying, later in the week:
"Since we have a patent on how stem cells may be used, we would advise every person living in the United States to either give us $25,000 or kill themselves, as we never explicitly said which babies could use them and which couldn't. Suck our balls!"
Furthermore, I would like to advise every American male that they are currently in violation of my own patent #2,3443,223 - "Ballzack." And, I must demand immediate licensing payment for posession or use of "Ballzack" or anyone found to be in posession of "Ballzack" will have it seized. I will begin grabbing everyone's "Ballzack" upon non-payment beginning on the first of September.
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
The patent
by the isolation of ES cell lines from two primate species, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) and the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).
-- the patent It looks like he might have been looking to patent embryonic stem cells of those species of primates, not human stem cells.
Do you like German cars?
Say, Mr. Founding Father...what was that again about patents and copyrights providing a BENEFIT to society? Is this what was intended?
Seriously, I think I remember reading that Benjamin Franklin was against the concept of patents because he himself invented a new type of indoor stove (Franklin stove I'm guessing) that was much much safer than the other indoor stoves at the time, which cause deaths from fire and smoke inhilation. A company in England tried to patent the stove's design after it was in use in the colonies and Franklin saw that there could be potentially lifesaving advances that would be unavailable thanks to patents.
Imagine patents on seatbelts and airbags being used restrictively...like you could only get them or use them in Ford vehicles. AIDS vaccines are another key example. It is inexcusable that WIPO and other intellectual property organizations put corporate profit protection above human life.
benefit of society".
- JoeShmoe
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
Where did you get the idea that the patent was directed to a naturally occuring cell? It isn't.
Research at the Montreal Neurological Institute has revealed that there is an alternative source for stem cells. The source is from the skin of adult rodents, and they believe that this will also be possible with humans. The added advantage is that these stem cells would not be rejected when used in building organs for replacement.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
So why would anyone keep using embryonic stem cells?
Imagine patents on seatbelts and airbags being used restrictively...like you could only get them or use them in Ford vehicles.
Imagine that, indeed. As a matter of fact, there are a few gazillion patents covering every aspect of the field, and some of those patents dating back decades.
AIDS vaccines are another key example. It is inexcusable that WIPO and other intellectual property organizations put corporate profit protection above human life.
Nonsense. Patents make it possible for corporations to create life-saving technology and saves lives. Pharmaceutical companies raise capital from the marketplace for research and development and regulatory testing, not because shareholders are happy to volunteer funds for R&D, but because they hope the company will make a profit. If the company could not make a profit, the R&D and development wouldn't get done, and the products would be brought to market. If the company didn't have patents, competitors would simply free-ride on the R&D and compete with them using their own work. No profits, no product, no life saving drugs.
Life saving drugs, such as tetracycline and a host of antibiotics, leukemia fighting drugs, and lifestyle preserving drugs such as Prozac and many others are the product of, not deterred by, the patent system.
Here's a link to another story in the Capital Times (in Madison, Wisconsin). It puts more emphasis on interviews with researchers at the WARF. They claim that they are being very responsible with a patent, far more so than a private corporation would be if it owned the patent.
Unfortunately, the practice of licensing out research to private corporations has become common practice at the University of Wisconsin and other big research universities. Grad students sometimes do the work on research where the company gets to keep all IP gained from the research.
The problem is that the state keeps cutting our funds every year, so the university constantly has to search for new sources of funding. The administration sees private companies as a source for this research money. However, the gain from private grants, etc., is often offset by the expenses the UW incurs by building new facilities for this corporate-owned research. We still end up footing huge bills, but then the public doesn't own the result.
The researchers do have a point: at least a university research institution owns this patent, and they are concerned with the benefits of research, not profiteering. Many patents from university research now go to corporations. For example, earlier this year some UW researchers were given "free" access to Third Wave Technologies' proprietary Invader OS in exchange for promising Third Wave the right to develop any discoveries, which I assume means pursuing patents based on the UW researchers' work.
Let's not get confused here. Have a patent on concept X does not give me the right to stop all research on related topics X1 and X2. It prevents you from developing X, calling it your own, and selling it. The Thomas Edison foundation holds a patent on the light bulb, but that doesn't mean I cannot research LEDs, or new types of light bulbs.
when issues like this come up, and everyone here is pretty much agast at some stupid patent or law, what do we do? I mean other than whine and moan here about it. How many of you write an email to president@whitehouse.gov? how many take an ounce of effort and figure out the email of your congressman or house of represenataive member and then email them? I wont mention actually writing a real letter and mailing it, as most everyone here is either too lazy or cheap to do such a thing. but instead of whining how about actually being a member of society? we as a collective can and do crash servers on a regular basis. but do we take one bit of effort to write a letter that sounds like it was writen by someone that actually passed 10th grade and send it to someone who does have the power to change the law/problem? no way.
I dare you, I dare all of you. to write an email to the president and vice president, voicing your concern that his important decision is being controlled by some un-american legislators in a wisconsin college. And you as a voting american citizen (or as a forign interested party) would like to know what he is going to do about it.
Dont use L33t or swear every 3 words like an illiterate turd.
I'll bet that none of you have the guts or even brain power to do it. (Yes this last line is an intentional troll... as it seems that someone has to slap the slashdot collective in the face to get it's attention)
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.