Word: patentable
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Want to make your mark on the millennium? Better get in line. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been inundated with more than 1,400 applications for millennial trademarks, which could lead to some serious endorsement conflicts at your next New Year's Eve party: Do you reach for the official champagne of the millennium (Korbel) or the official martini (Beefeater)? Our guide to the clash of the trademark titans...
...nothing that scientists are in such a footrace to get the human genome mapped. There's more than just knowledge at stake, after all--there's money. Who walks away with most of the booty won't be decided in labs or universities, however, but in courts and patent offices...
Though deciphering the entire human genetic blueprint is still a few years away, scientists have begun laying claim to the stretches of DNA whose codes they have succeeded in cracking. In recent years researchers have flooded the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with applications for thousands of genes and gene fragments--and they have stirred a lot of controversy in the process...
Geneticists have lately been filing patent applications for these ESTs anyway, figuring that it's best to protect their turf now and go spelunking around in it later. In a science that prizes precision above all else, this can be an odd way to do business. "I would guess that in many cases the scientists didn't even examine all the material," says Bruce Lehman, commissioner of the Patent and Trademark Office...
...only can such filings be sloppy genetics, they can also be bad business. est applications may lead to so-called submarine patents, claims that are made today and then vanish, only to reappear when some unsuspecting scientist finds something useful to do with genes hidden in the patent. To prevent this, Lehman requires that est applications include no more than 10 genetic sequences. Each 10 after that requires a separate application--and a separate filing fee. "Companies will now have an incentive to file more selective applications," says Lehman...