How to make a sandwich

McDonald's tries to patent the greatest thing since sliced bread. Click picture to enlarge.

(h/t: Greg Laden)

New Developments in the War on Science: Policing Your Hard Drives and the Internetz

Although he can't be bothered to discuss the issue with voting taxpayers in his own country, Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice has apparently joined up with an international task force (under the guise of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) that aims to restrict the movement of digital information between countries. We're talking potential hard drive searches at airports and wide latitude to seize information. Who knows, maybe our brains will even be scanned for copyrighted information? Better get those Metallica tunes out of your head before travelling!

Such measures are totally uncalled for and if enacted, would represent a serious impediment to the daily activities of the thousands of scientists who rely on communicating and exchanging ideas around the globe in order to do their work.

Read about this nonsense here. Michael Geist provides more in depth coverage.

Gene Patents

Coward's recent post about prestin got me thinking about gene patents and how they work. While I couldn't find a decent overview of Canadian guidelines at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, I did come across 2 other good resources. The first is a summary of British gene patent information and the other is an excellent FAQ from the Human Genome Project. The rules are pretty similar. Basically, to patent a gene:

1) it must be a novel sequence
2) you must specify the gene product
3) you must specify the product function

The last two points are key, as they prevent the massive patenting of sequences and sitting on the rights until somebody else comes up with a practical application (see: submarine patents).

Interestingly, ESTs and SNPs can also be patented which means there is the potential for multiple patents on the same sequence. Whole organisms can also be patented, provided they are not naturally occurring (GM corn, for example), as can naturally occurring substances, as long as a novel use can be specified.

Currently an estimated 20% of human genes have been patented, but fortunately the government reserves the right to override patents in cases where it is deemed vital for the public good and the patent holder is being overly restrictive. For example, the American Medical Association has asked for a ban on patents for medical and surgical procedures, or, closer to home, the Ontario government ignored a US patent on a cancer screen and offered the test to the public. Similarly, the BC government complied and stopped, but has since resumed offering the test.