RE: [ccp4bb]: License required for deposited structures!

[Bernard Santarsiero <bds@uic.edu>]

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Actually I'm having trouble crystallizing some proteins in my lab, so
maybe it isn't a proven technique yet, and hence patentable?  I'll start
to save my dimes if I do crystallize something.

bds


On Tue, 1 Apr 2003, Ditlev Brodersen wrote:

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> 
> Hej Morten!
> 
>   Happy 1st April!
> 
>   By the way, if anybody should be interested, for a patent to be filed,
> it has to be proved that it represents a "novel idea", i.e. something
> that hasn't been done before. As soon as a method/idea has been made
> public, for example by publication, it cannot be patented. The whole
> idea of the patent system is to give the inventor exclusive rights to
> make use of their invention for a limited period of time (usually 20
> years), after which the information will be made public. That's the
> bargain between the state and the inventor.
> 
>   Since x-ray crystallography has already been proven as a technique,
> let's say, "a couple of times" in public, it would therefore not be
> possible to file such a patent for the technique as such. They'd have to
> come up with a new idea, for example "the use of crystallography for
> collecting data from crystals smaller than 5um", if they can prove that
> nobody had talked about that in public before. But now that I have
> mentioned it here, they can't do that either :-)
> 
>   It might be April 1st, but patents can potentially constitute real
> problems even for academics in the future! I really think people should
> publicise any good ideas they come up with to the bulletin board, so we
> can prevent companies from filing patents in the future...
> 
> Have fun!
> 
>   Ditlev
> 
> ---
> 
> Ditlev E. Brodersen, Ph.D.
> Postdoctoral fellow
> 
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>