Patents and the challenge of ‘open source’ in an emergent biological commons or … the strange case of Betty Crocker and the mouse

TY - JOUR

T1 - Patents and the challenge of ‘open source’ in an emergent biological commons or … the strange case of Betty Crocker and the mouse

AU - Parry, Bronwyn

PY - 2020/6/30

Y1 - 2020/6/30

N2 - Patent has long been presumed to be an essential mechanism for realising the value of intellectual labour invested in the manufacture of biological inventions. By examining how the creators of engineered mice strains deposited at the Jackson Laboratory have utilised patent, I here explore the paradoxical matter of why they have not asserted their rights in the way anticipated by patent advocates. The emergence of new open source economies in mammalian genetic resources (the Mouse Academic Commons) has served to valorise collaborative working and iterative forms of experimentation. Engineered mouse strains are, in this context, best conceived of as an experimental space or biological commons open to re-invention by all. The key issue of how individual donors can protect the integrity of their donated ‘works’ and capitalize on the intellectual labour invested in their creation remains, however, largely unexplored. Here I argue that value lies not in the model mouse or strain itself, but rather in the experimental techniques that assure its continued genetic integrity; and demonstrate how process patents and trademark are together deployed to assure the reliability of the personality, identity, and reputation of the protected strains; and with it the economic viability of a biotechnological commons.

AB - Patent has long been presumed to be an essential mechanism for realising the value of intellectual labour invested in the manufacture of biological inventions. By examining how the creators of engineered mice strains deposited at the Jackson Laboratory have utilised patent, I here explore the paradoxical matter of why they have not asserted their rights in the way anticipated by patent advocates. The emergence of new open source economies in mammalian genetic resources (the Mouse Academic Commons) has served to valorise collaborative working and iterative forms of experimentation. Engineered mouse strains are, in this context, best conceived of as an experimental space or biological commons open to re-invention by all. The key issue of how individual donors can protect the integrity of their donated ‘works’ and capitalize on the intellectual labour invested in their creation remains, however, largely unexplored. Here I argue that value lies not in the model mouse or strain itself, but rather in the experimental techniques that assure its continued genetic integrity; and demonstrate how process patents and trademark are together deployed to assure the reliability of the personality, identity, and reputation of the protected strains; and with it the economic viability of a biotechnological commons.

KW - Bioinformation

KW - Biological commons

KW - Craft

KW - Intellectual property

KW - Model organisms

KW - Open source

KW - Trademark

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068978550&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1057/s41292-019-00158-4

DO - 10.1057/s41292-019-00158-4

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85068978550

SN - 1745-8552

VL - 15

SP - 294

EP - 315

JO - BioSocieties

JF - BioSocieties

IS - 2

ER -