The US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that human genes cannot be patented, but:"(...) the Justices also ruled that synthetic DNA sequences—known as complimentary DNA (cDNA)—are eligible for protection. "A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas, "but cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring.""This ruling means that pharmaceutical companies no longer have a monopoly on the tests for the presence of genes, allowing competition that will hopefully drive down costs.
In my opinion, this is good news and I hope that these rules will also be extended to plant and animal genes. What do you think?
Source:
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articl...g-Human-Genes/