Slashdot Mirror
When a DNA Testing Firm Goes Bankrupt, Who Gets the Data?
wiedzmin writes "DeCODE Genetics, a genetics research firm from Iceland, has filed for bankruptcy in the US, and Saga Investments, a US venture capital firm, has already put in a bid to buy deCODE’s operations, raising privacy concerns about the fate of customer DNA samples and records. The company hasn’t disclosed how many clients signed up for its service, but provides a number of customer testimonials on its site, including Dorrit Mousaieff, Iceland’s first lady."
We sent off some DNA in our family last winter, and I was surprised at the lack of legalese in the paperwork.
In particular, nowhere in any of it did it state that we were surrendering any property rights [i.e. the documents addressed neither the physical property of the biological material, nor the intellectual property of the DNA code].
On the other hand, because of the lack of legalese in the paperwork, it also didn't say that the DNA facilities were surrendering any property rights [or the ability to assert property rights in the future], either.
But I'd be shocked if the courts ruled for the creditors rather than for the "patients", unless there was some very explicit contracts in which the "patients" surrendered their property rights [although, even there, I wouldn't be surprised if a court ruled that such a contract were invalid, on e.g. 13th Amendment grounds].