What are some of the potential arguments against gene patenting?
• Patents of partial and uncharacterized cDNA sequences will reward those who make routine discoveries but penalize those who determine biological function or application (inappropriate reward given to easiest step in the process). • Patents could impede the development of diagnostics and therapeutics by third parties because of the costs associated with using patented research data. • Patent stacking (allowing a single genomic sequence to be patented in several ways such as an EST, a gene, and a SNP) may discourage product development because of high royalty costs owed to all patent owners of that sequence; these are costs that will likely be passed on to the consumer. • Because patent applications remain secret until granted, companies may work on developing a product only to find that new patents have been granted along the way, with unexpected licensing costs and possible infringement penalties. • Costs increase not only for paying for patent licensing but also for determining what
