As more and more DNA is sequenced, many companies and scientists are also filing patents for gene.
Currently, to qualify for a gene patent, an "inventor"
must prove that a specific product of a novel gene can be used for a
stated purpose. The majority of gene patents worldwide are given out by the US Patents and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, and the Japanese Office. (16) However, what does this mean for consumers? The Supreme Court ruled in 1981 in Diamond v. Chakrabarty that "anything under the sun that
is made by man" is patentable. This was in reference to the first patent on a living organism, a genetically modified
bacterium produced by a researcher, but it also raised some important questions about patents. (3) Will
patenting this intellectual property possibly hinder collaborative
efforts by scientists? Is it ethical to patent the human genome in the
first place? The image above sums up the three different views regarding gene patenting. We will follow with some arguments that gene patenting is "evil" and opposing arguments that it is "inefficient or useful".