Letters from the September 8, 2007, issue of Science News
By Science News
Patent pending
If Drs. Glass and Venter succeed in assembling a viable synthetic bacterial genome (“Life Swap: Switching genomes converts bacteria,” SN: 6/30/07, p. 403), will the genome or the new life form itself be patentable?
Virgil H. Soule
Frederick, Md.
The team that performed this work stirred controversy when it applied for a patent on a synthetic bacterial genome in October 2006. The patent hasn’t yet been granted.—P. Barry