US / PATENTS / "HUMAN PATENTS"

In the Journal of Intellectual Property Law, Vol 7 No 1, published by the University of Georgia School of Law, James P Daniel’s article, Of Mice and Manimal: the Patent and Trademark Office’s latest stance against Patent Protection for Human Based Inventions, traces the history in the USA of "living patents" (plants, bacteria and multicellular organisms) largely through the case law and discusses the validity of the PTO’s announcements on the subject of human patentabilty, with particular reference to the PTO’s interpretation of Section 101 of the Patent Act and of the Thirteenth Amendment [to the US Constitution] prohibiting the involuntary servitude of men and women. The author concludes that, while the PTO may have valid concerns about the consequences of granting patents for human based inventions, none of its past or present reasons for a wholesale denial is persuasive … Congress should provide for or proscribe patent protection for these inventions. [20008]