Assignment

Introduction

The battle over whether human genes can be owned has raged for more than three decades. The courts have come down mainly on the side of privately owned companies, saying that genes can be patented as long as scientists isolate them from the body and purify them. But a March 2010 court decision turned that long-held legal opinion on its head. In Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al., a U.S. District Court judge invalidated seven patents relating to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Mutations of these genes have been linked to breast cancer and ovarian cancer. In this WebQuest, you will explore the current state of patent law regarding human genes. Then, you will write a magazine article on this topic.

Task

You are a magazine journalist who writes about science issues. Your task is to write a 250-word article on the current state of patent law regarding human genes.