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Outstanding Achievements In Biopiracy - 2004

Posted by timothy on from the they-stole-our-parts dept.

mr_don't writes "The Coalition Against Biopiracy is hosting yet another 'Captain Hook Awards,' for 'Outstanding Achievements in Biopiracy.' So far, only a few nominees have been submitted, but a key one is for Melbourne-based Genetic Technologies for 'having patented the non-coded DNA of all living creatures, including humans.' The web site is calling for 'help to identify the Greediest, Most Offensive and Dangerous biopirates from across the globe' -- I am sure Slashdot readers certainly know of a few."

1 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Intron patents by diaphanous · · Score: 4, Informative

    Looking at the summaries of the intron ("Junk DNA") patents, they seem to be applications of completely general techniques and knowledge (restriction digests & DNA sequencing (first developed in the 1960's), introns (discovered in 1977), and PCR amplification (invented in 1985)) to a subsection of the domain the prior techniques were intended to cover.

    It's a bit like having someone invent the automobile then someone else patenting "Using an automobile to deliver packages"

    Specifically the patents seem to be:

    1. Use primers derived from dna sequence flanking the intron and immediately inside the intron to PCR amplify the intron

    2. Do stuff (sequence, map restriction sites) with the intron sequence you've amplified in step one.

    This isn't to diminish any insight the inventor might have had into the importance of "junk DNA", but the method described is a straightforward application of more general processes.

    ~Phillip