OK... here's a next generation scenario for you:
A baby is born with a lethal genetic disease.
A private US company has identified the gene, synthesized the normal gene,
and owns an FDA-approved method for gene-therapy treatment in humans.
The child's parents sign a licensing agreement and pay the company's fees.
Their child is treated, grows to adult hood, and has children who inherit the man-made (normal) gene.
Question: Do these children and all their subsequent offspring have to
abide by the licensing agreement and pay the company's fees ?
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Our current US Supreme Court seems to think so ...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamplighter
<snip>
|
NY Times
Published: May 13, 2013
Soybeans and the Spirit of Invention
<snip>Farmers who buy Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds have to sign
a license agreement that prohibits them from saving seeds from the crop for replanting.
<snip>
Mr. Bowman bought Roundup Ready seeds for his main crop, and accepted Monsanto’s conditions.
But for his later crop, he sidestepped Monsanto by planting the cheaper seeds from a grain elevator.
The American Soybean Association called his practice “unorthodox.”
In a unanimous ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled correctly for Monsanto.
If Mr. Bowman were given the right to make copies of the seeds,
Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court, “a patent would plummet in value
after the first sale of the first item containing the invention.”