DNA/Patent Forum in Science Online

To all it may concern in the patent community:

Science will be hosting a forum on patenting DNA sequences. We encourage members of the community to respond. The url will be available Thursday, April 30 at 4pm EST at:

   http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/980465.shl

In summary:

Resolution of current debates regarding intellectual property rights will have major effects on the future development of DNA-based approaches to medicine as well as the biotechnology industry. Two points of view in this debate have been published in SCIENCE and we welcome your involvement in the discussion. The U.S.Patent and Trademarks Office has provided the first comprehensive statement of their position that patenting of DNA sequence elements represents a situation similar to other patentable materials, in which patenting can promote the release of information. Heller and Eisenberg express their concerns that the proliferation of patents and licenses could endanger the progress of biomedical research.

Thank you for your time and your interest.

Sincerely,

Brent Gendleman
Science
202-326-6504
fax: 202-289-7562
email: bgendlem[_at_]aaas.org Received on Wed Apr 29 1998 - 21:48:05 GMT