It's a Wonderful Genome: The Written-Description Requirement Protects the Human Genome form Overly-Broad Patents
![handle is hein.journals/jmlr32 and id is 815 raw text is: IT'S A WONDERFUL GENOME: THE
WRITTEN-DESCRIPTION REQUIREMENT
PROTECTS THE HUMAN GENOME FROM
OVERLY-BROAD PATENTS1
EMANUEL VACCHIANO*
INTRODUCTION
George Bailey of Bedford Falls, New York, made it to college
after all!2 In fact, Doctor Bailey embarked on a great adventure,
joining thousands of others who are crossing a vast, unknown sea
attempting to discover its hidden secrets which may reveal the
cures to many of today's most deadly diseases.3 Fortunately,
George did not leave Bedford Falls for his adventure. For this
adventure is the Human Genome Project and the modern-day
explorers are scientists like Dr. Bailey, who received his Ph.D.
from the State University and set up a research lab in Bedford
1. After submission of this Comment for publication, the United States
Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued interim guidelines for examination of
patent applications under the written description requirement. Request for
Comments on Interim Guidelines for Examination of Patent Applications
Under the 35 U.S.C. § 112, 1 Written Description Requirement, 63 Fed.
Reg. 32,639 (1998). Additionally, on October 6, 1998, the PTO issued U.S.
Patent No. 5,817,479 which some claim is the first EST patent. Young et al.,
U.S. Patent No. 5,817,479. See Incyte Pharma Gets Patent On Human Kinase
Genes, Dow Jones News Service, Nov. 4, 1998 (discussing Incyte's
announcement that it had obtained a patent covering expressed sequence
tags). But see Patent on Gene Fragments Sends Researchers a Mixed Message,
396 NATURE 499, 499 (1998) (discussing the position of the PTO that this is
not an EST patent).
* J.D. Candidate, Jan. 2000. Special thanks are due to Donald Reynolds,
Dr. Patrick Halloran, and Daniel Boehnen for their critical reviews of drafts of
this Comment.
2. See IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (RKO and Liberty Films 1946) [hereinafter
WONDERFUL LIFE] (focusing on the life of a fictional generous and kind person,
George Bailey). The Wonderful Life movie does not involve a Human Genome
Project as discussed in this Comment. The author uses some of the characters
and themes from the movie to create a more enjoyable reading experience.
3. See generally Shannon Brownlee et al., Tinkering with Destiny, U.S.
NEWS & WORLD REP., Aug. 22, 1994, at 59 (discussing the implications of the
discovery of the BRCA1 breast cancer susceptability gene and future genomic
research on cancer treatment and diagnosis); Philip Elmer-Dewitt, The
Genetic Revolution, TIME, Jan. 17, 1994, at 46 (discussing the human genome
project and the practical implications of human genome discoveries).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jmlr32&div=33&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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It's a Wonderful Genome: The Written-Description Requirement Protects the Human Genome form Overly-Broad Patents
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