Crichton Appeals for Patent Sanity

Image Source: Bioethics

• The Earth revolves around the Sun.
• The speed of light is a constant.
• Apples fall to earth because of gravity.
• Elevated blood sugar is linked to diabetes.
• Elevated uric acid is linked to gout.
• Elevated homocysteine is linked to heart disease.
• Elevated homocysteine is linked to B-12 deficiency, so doctors should test homocysteine levels to see whether the patient needs vitamins.

Actually, I can't make that last statement. A corporation has patented that fact, and demands a royalty for its use. Anyone who makes the fact public and encourages doctors to test for the condition and treat it can be sued for royalty fees. Any doctor who reads a patient's test results and even thinks of vitamin deficiency infringes the patent. A federal circuit court held that mere thinking violates the patent.

So write Michael Crichton in yesterday's New York Times. Patents have gone wild in the US. There hardly seems any logic in their application at times. Crichton is actually referencing a case that's heading the Supreme Court shortly. Thus far, the company that owns the patent on the fact mentioned, has vigorously defended it in the courts -- and won. Patenting facts, especially those that occur in nature -- in all of us for example -- puts society in a precarious position, where a few maintains control over what can be studied to benefit society as a whole.

Crichton makes an appeal for sanity in the patent process in his New York Times essay -- for the sake of all of us, the courts need to rule in favour of the societies they serve before it's too late.