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From: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre,misc.legal,talk.politics.misc,misc.jobs.misc,sci.bio
Subject: Re: Are Animals Patentable?
Message-ID: <3447@gryphon.CTS.COM>
Date: 19 Apr 88 18:05:56 GMT
References: <97500013@prism> <4872@xanth.cs.odu.edu> <9915@tekecs.TEK.COM>
Reply-To: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Organization: Trailing Edge Technology, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 41

In article <9915@tekecs.TEK.COM> andrew@frip.gwd.tek.com (Andrew Klossner) writes:
>>> Harvard Univ. was just granted a PATENT for a new species of mice!
>>> (genetically engineered.)
>>> Every single descendant of the original mouse is OWNED by Harvard.
>
>> Oh boy!  The perfect precedent!  Let's clear up, say,  Down's syndrome
>> in a family line with gene therapy.  We can bring back slavery.
>> Legally!  The patent office says so!
>
>The patent office specifically stated that they will not accept patents
>for new specifies of humans 

And you believe them ?

what is a specifies anyway ?

they said you couldnt patent plant strains about 15 years ago either
and now you can
they said you could never never never patent animals

>The question now has to do with the gray area.  That mouse has a human
>gene, so we've established that an animal with at least one human gene
>is patentable.  And we know that an animal with 100% human genes is
>not.  Where will the line be drawn?


ok, lets start a contest ? how many years before they develop an animal
that is mostly human, but does a great job of washing dishes, fixing
cars, making b movies with chimps.................


"... and as a gin scented tear trickled down his cheek, he had come
to realize that he loved big brother.    THE END"


or something like that


-- 
   Five tacos, one taco burger. Do you know where the American Dream is ?
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM                          rutgers!marque!gryphon!richard