Slashdot Mirror
Patent Troll Going After Alzheimer's Researchers
An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from Nature News:
"The website of the Alzheimer's Institute of America (AIA) doesn't reveal much about the organization, but portrays it as committed to supporting research and patients. Among people who study Alzheimer's disease, however, the AIA, based in St Louis, Missouri, is best known for filing lawsuits against companies and researchers — a practice that scientists say could hamper the progress of research into combating the dreaded disease."
Can somebody equip an Alzheimer's patient with a few Uzi's, send him into these guys office, and tell him the office is full of Nazi's? He can claim he is not responsible for his actions due to his Alzheimer's, and these bastards can get the justice they so richly deserve.
I joined an Alzheimer's support group, but I keep forgetting to go to the meetings...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
She said she faked it, but wanted to avoid hurting your feelings (I don't remember why).
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
That's because she's dead, you necrophiliac perv!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
The suit concerns an AIA patent on a human DNA sequence used in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.
This.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
I had a great joke for this thread, but I forgot what it was.
These patents are valid only in Fuckupistan (the US), right? No problem in that case; nobody would be able to afford the fruits of the research anyway.
All these organizations are fighing over rights to a discovery. They did not invent this gene they found it existing in the wild. If anyone deserves owership of it, it's the human family in sweeden who contain the gene as part of their person and suffer from its effects. I'm sure this family just wants altimers cured.
This is good. The trolls are (stupidly) getting into areas people really care about (rather than software innovation) and the backlash could be very useful in driving change.
Sweeden, yah, where artificial sweedeners were invented!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
necrophile
... demanded a $799 license fee from every sufferer of Alzheimer's Disease, since he owns the copyrights to the disease.
Darl: "How dare you develop that disease without paying me first!"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
the AIA website looks rather trollish too, as there's not much content for an organization which claims to "support research aimed at making significant gains in both scientific knowledge and improved healthcare for those living with Alzheimer's Disease, brain trauma or any memory disorder." Lots of the tabs on the main page lead to a temp.php which claims they're "working to update our website and anticipate having the information you've requested avalaible online soon". The copyright on the website is 2009... that's a long time to work on a update #dukenukem
---- "Physics is like sex: It has a practical use, but that's not why we do it." -- Richard Feyneman
Shouldn't the AIA also be suing the Swedish family that has the gene? They are using it all the time, without permission, and their offspring are definitely profiting from it! A patent is a patent; it should cover every use of the patented method or device! Or perhaps you could just admit that maybe a sequence of genes that has occurred naturally for hundreds of years shouldn't be patentable in the first place...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
This is why any form of patent on naturally occurring genes is complete and utter bullshit.
Is AIA also suing the Swedish family in which they found this mutation? Because, they're clearly infringing on the patent.
There is no way that it makes sense to be able to patent parts of someone else's DNA. This doesn't do anything to "further innovation" or any of the things people say patents are for ... it lets some idiot patent something he found (not created), sell it to a 3rd party, and then that 3rd party prevents other people from using it for research. DNA is a "fact" not an "invention".
In this case, I'd like to know which takes precedence .. the NIH requirement to share the mice, or this absurd "patent".
This is just so wrong.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
because, for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way.....
the genuine native americans had no (0) history of violence, until the queens' holycostal real sex religious 'training'/exterminations began. they still have no words for what happened. they do have hopes of seeing us survive/thrive, after the final chosen ones holycost ends,,,, again?
genuine native americans must have a vote in the UN, our support etc..., to go with their recent political aspirations?
disarm. leave. that's the sentiment now.
anyone in for some LOIC?
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
They obviously paid too much for the patent to start with, hoping that a drug would be developed (by someone else) off it's back so that they could then extract an exorbitant rent from it. This didn't happen, and as it is about to run out of patent protection in a few years they are trying to extract any money they can. It is a bit obvious and desperate, and probably instigated by the AIA company owners desperate to get a return. Consequently the lawsuit won't be thought out or funded properly, but it will in the short term divert funds from actually useful research.
What it probably is in fact is a scam by a lawfirm to suck the last of the money out of the shell of AIA and it's real owners, in the owners vain hope of actually making back some money.
Fry: Boneitis? That's a funny name for a horrible disease.
80s Guy: There was no cure at the time. A drug company came close, but I arranged a hostile takeover and sold off all the assets. Made a cool hundred mil.
Cruise TT
Aliens from another dimension seek to take over the Earth! Fortunately, they aren't ready to cross over and fear the rapid advancement of human culture and technology might make humanity too strong to defeat.
Unfortunately, these aliens have a plan. A few can cross over and possess uncaring humans possessing the seeds of massive greed inside their hearts. Perverting the once-well intentioned copyright laws these possessed individuals seek to slow or destroy human advancement for the eventual enslavement of the human race, led by these corrupted individuals.
Given that the possessed are able to regenerate thanks to their alien symbiosis--surviving even bullets to the head or chainsaw dismemberment--and can only be truly killed by fire they are dubbed Trolls. Hopefully, a secret, humanitarian organization will discover the truth of this foul plot and begin construction of hand held flamethrowers plus car-installed napalm rockets to rid the world of these selfish abominations!
The best way to get reform of the patent system is for the patent trolls to have at it.
Make a nuisance of yourself that is so obvious that even the most corrupt politician could see that it affects their future campaign contributions and their best buddies' businesses.
Go crazy guys!
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
...that no one here ever has to see a loved one suffer from this disease. Of course, statistics will ensure that at least several will.
My dad was diagnosed with it, and it progressed at a frightening rate (about half the average time) before passing away due to a complication.
To watch someone you know and love lose a little bit more of themselves every day is heartbreaking in every sense of the word. When your own parent doesn't even know who you are after 30-40 years (38 in my case), you're just at a complete loss. At first, the memory loss is a little weird but you chalk it up to typical aging. Then the behavior (dementia and aggression) starts getting more and more palpable. Eventually, you'll have to put them in managed care because it's just too much to deal with in a family home (e.g. waking up in the middle of the night with said parent nowhere to be found). Heavy medication near the end and lots of love is about all you can do.
I wish nothing but the WORST for AIA. Scumbags.
Yeah it's pretty bad, sorry about that. It's a work computer and stupid IE7 doesn't have the auto spell checker like fire fox. No red lines and everything's OK right.
Shut up, grandpa! You're drunk again!
There are even several AIDS drugs that were derived directly from blood samples taken from desperately poor prosititutes in Africa. They actually patented the poor womens entire DNA sequence. If anything gets you sent to hell, it's this sort of crap.
"Aaaaand Real Life squeezes past Dystopian Sci-Fi on the inside! What a move Carl!"
"You said it Jeff, it's gonna take some sick shit for Team Sci-Fi to retake the lead after a ballsy pass like that."
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
All imports from all countries should be banned because some employees creating those products will come down with unlicensed cases of Alzheimers.
By a pure coincidence perhaps the Roskamp Instritute has the same address (http://www.rfdn.org/about.html).
It seems to be funded by a developer of senior living facilities. Would there be a benefit for a devloper of a senior living facilities from a cure for Alzhemer's?
Reductio ad absurdum is a valid debating technique because it illustrates well the real question: Where should we draw the line in enforcing a patent that is so clearly and obviously not in the public interest?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Where's anonymouse (sic) when you want them?
The EFF is fighting a similar battle over a patent on a gene that increases the risk of breast cancer. Appeals Court Hears Argument in the "Breast Cancer Gene" Case
Because Myriad owned the patents, testing on these two genes could only take place in Myriad’s own labs – meaning that others could not develop tests on those genes, depriving women from alternative (and cheaper) tests...in March 2010, the district court found in the plaintiffs’ favor and invalidated the patents....
Patent Troll Going After Alzheimer's Researchers this week, every week.
Original headline: Nursing home patient excited to be going home today, every day.
I wonder how it come that some people become patent trolls? I can't imagine anyone's childhood dream was; "when I am big, I am going to be a lawyer, a POWERFUL! lawyer that will sue everyone I know and anyone I can find".
Probably, these people are forced to become patent troll by their financial circumstance, we should not be angry at them. They deserve our pity and help from their awful situation that has lead them to live a life of a destructive harbringer of everything good and cuddly.
Ok, so the patent is not on the gene itself, but for that gene expressed in mice. So the method of splicing the gene into mice may be patentable. Did they actually invent gene sequencing and gene splicing, or was that developed by the NIH? Even if the method is theirs, they are claiming royalties not only on their method, but on all descendants of any mice ever created by their method? Isn't that kind of like the first guy to cross a Poodle with a Labrador Retriever demanding royalties on every Labradoodle ever sold, including those unrelated to his own dogs?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
No, they want to be able to afford blowjobs from attractive women (or men, as the case may be). So do I, but I don't go around screwing other people over in order to achieve that goal. That's sort of like saying, "Sure, he killed people and stole their money, but he was only doing it because he was broke!" Or perhaps I'm simply not recognizing your attempt at sarcasm...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I'm so tired of this crap. The Greek's stole from the Egyptians. The Romans from the Greeks. Great artists always imitate and copy from their predecessors so they can learn--Science and Technology should be no different. Progress is going to crawl to a greedy halt if we keep up this patent bullcrap. Ultimately society becomes a better place when people do things for the greater good. Thank god Penicillin wasn't patented. Putting a patent on a strand of DNA is ridiculous. I just wish I was old enough to have thought of patenting the patent process.
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
So the address for the AIA is: 2040 Whitfield Avenue Sarasota, Florida 34243 U.S.A.
This is the same as the RosKamp Institute, http://www.rfdn.org/ another neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorder operation... related??
Insert signature here...
From TFA "Michael Mullan, a biomedical researcher who is now head of the Roskamp Institute in Sarasota, Florida, patented the sequence in 1995, then sold it to the AIA."
A little bit of googling shows that the AIA is affiliated with Archer Pharmaceuticals: "Archer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Archer) was founded in 2008 and specializes in targeted drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease. Led by Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer Michael Mullan, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. and Chief Technical Officer and Associate Chief Scientific Officer Fiona Crawford, Ph.D."
The AIA is also related to the Roskamp Institute: "The foundation for the Institute’s work was set more than a decade ago by Roskamp’s two lead researchers, Drs. Michael Mullan and Fiona Crawford. They were key members of a pioneering team of scientists who, in the early 1990s, discovered that the onset of Alzheimer’s was directly related to the accumulation of a protein called ß-amyloid." The staff page lists about 15 people.
And then that http://www.sptimes.com/2003/02/20/TampaBay/Alzheimer_s_research_.shtml and that http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v425/n6961/full/425889a.html.
I would not be surprised if the institute is running out of money and they are trying to make a quick buck in settlements. The guy has published at a high level but as far as I understand he was neither the lead nor the senior investigator on the initial study so I don't understand how he could have sold the rights to a foundation that he obviously created just for the purpose of suing.
It should have been: Alzheimer researchers forget about patents.
> a practice that scientists say could hamper the progress of research into combating the dreaded disease
Progress? Into combating Alzheimer's Disease? What progress?
I haven't seen any progress on that front. At all. Alzheimer's is notoriously intractable. Every few years there's a story in the news about some new medical research into Alzheimer's, but it always comes to nothing. Aluminum pots? Not relevant after all. Amyloid inhibitors? Useless. Beta carotine? Apparently unrelated. Ginko? Ineffective. Just about the only reliable way to *avoid* Alzheimer's, that we've discovered so far, is to die young from something else. Sign us all up for that, right?
I predict every single currently valid patent will expire, and then all the patents that are valid by the time that happens will expire, and we won't know anything significant about Alzheimer's Disease that we didn't already know in the seventies. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I ain't holdin' my breath.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
"a practice that scientists say could hamper the progress of research into combating the dreaded disease." I think this is something that we can extrapolate to every field. This is why we need to get rid of them...
Were did these guys come from? A comic book from the 70s?
Do they also twitch their moustaches and laugh maniacally?
Just patent Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine and sue these bastard patent trolls out of the market! Lets just get this done and over with.
I worked in the medial industry and seen the amount of stress and hardship chronic illness causes to the sick and their families. Its sad that all this trolling is preventing potentially beneficial treatments. I'll bet the CEO of some of these patent trolls truly don't give a shit. We can only be so kind as to feel the same about them.
Most of these troll cases are frustrating, but I have some background from this one. My Grandmother died from Alzheimer's disease. She was left in a nursing home for more than half of my life. I never really got to know my Grandmother well, except that she couldn't remember my name... I do remember the heart attacks, and her progression. Knowing you have Alzheimer is worse than actually suffering the results. You know you'll never remember your family again, your life, even your husband, but there isn't a single thing you can do about it. And now this? AIA, you just entered the wrong playing field.
Yeah, that's cool and all man, but check out my doubles.
AIA generally does not comment about pending litigation, but it is necessary here to set the record straight. AIA does not threaten academic researchers and institutions with lawsuits when those researchers and institutions are involved in academic research. In fact, as AIA has stated in the past, there are dozens and dozens of academic institutions that are using the Swedish mutation for non-commercial purposes and have never been bothered about it, much less brought to court. Rather than discourage academic research, as your questions seems to imply, AIA has actually encouraged academic research using the Swedish mutation. For example, AIA worked with Mayo to ensure that the Tg2576 mice containing the Swedish mutation were widely available to academic researchers at little to no cost. Unlike Mayo, Jackson is not giving away Swedish mutation-containing mice for academic research. Jackson is selling the mice and making quite a lot of money in the process. Furthermore, the mice Jackson is selling are, in many instances, being used for commercial purposes -- not academic purposes. For example, Jackson sold mice to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, which then used them in the development of commercial imaging agents. Penn then spun off the technology to Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, which was later acquired by Eli Lilly for up to $800 million. That is not non-commercial, academic research by anyone's definition. Jackson may wish to try this case in the media based on innuendo that is plainly false, but AIA will stick to presenting the facts in court.
I'm going to patent patending.
In follow the link to source article, there was an interesting comment form presumably AIA. I quote "For example, Jackson sold mice to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, which then used them in the development of commercial imaging agents. Penn then spun off the technology to Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, which was later acquired by Eli Lilly for up to $800 million." It looks like AIA is going after the soft target Jackson and not the hard target University of Penn.
What a sick place America has become. Just F'ing sick.
I'm eagerly awaiting the day when someone patents "the process of breaking down organic substances through digestive acids to facilitate nutrition absorbtion" in order to try and shut down all grocery stores and restaurants for infringing on his food-eating patent.
Sounds like a good target for anonymous to me.