Word: patentable
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Last week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent for a new form of genetically-altered mouse created by Harvard Professor of Genetics Phillip Leder '56. The mutant mouse develops cancer at an extremely high rate and supposedly will be of great help to medical researchers...
Even if this enthusiastic claim is true, it is not reason enough to justify last week's patent. The action of the Patent Office in accepting Harvard's application sets a horrible precedent and shows a complete lack of consideration for the sanctity of life--even if that life doesn't happen to be human...
...patent raises the issue of whether our uniqueness as a species allows us to do as we please with animals that are used in research. The answer is no. Animals feel pain exactly as we do, and an abundance of intelligence or lack thereof has no bearing on the reality of pain, disease, suffering or death...
Important Japanese innovations cover a broad range of industries. A computerized automobile carburetor manufactured and patented by Nissan Motor was cited about 50 times in subsequent applications. Computer Horizons considers 50 follow-up citations an extraordinarily high number. Canon's patent for the optical disc, one form of which is the compact disc sold in record stores, was mentioned 56 times. An antibiotic developed by Takeda Chemical Industries earned more than 100 subsequent citations. Among recent advances, Hitachi has patented various processes for a higher-resolution TV, called IDTV, which produces a much sharper picture than conventional color TV. Some...
Critics of the NSF study argue that not every oft cited patent will be commercially valuable. Carlos Kruytbosch, head of the NSF Science Indicators Unit, admits that a patent may be cited in later applications because it represents an important historical precedent for future inventions but the original patent may never lead to anything that can be profitably produced. Patents are more important in businesses where technology moves relatively slowly, like the pharmaceutical industry, than in fast-changing fields such as electronics and computer science...