Last Friday, Xavier Becerra, a Democrat of California, and Dave Weldon, a Republican of Florida, sponsored the Genomic Research and Accessibility Act, to ban the practice of patenting genes found in nature.
[ A crucial question : Will it invalidate all the patents that already were issued? Certainly, there's value in not making a bad situation worse, but for the issued patents, is there a remedy besides waiting for the patent to expire? I think there is some complexity to this issue that Crichton leaves out which is that some researchers actually do create novel genetic sequences that are related to existing genes, but modified to do something different. Perhaps the answer is to permit patents on the outcome (for example "generating medical grade insulin from genetically modified bacteria") rather than the genetic sequences themselves. Thus, the patent is on the product or process, not the genes that enable it... EDIT
Some answers to my own questions. Per Congressman Becerra's press release, the bill is not retroactive and will require patent expiry to bring the existing patented genes back into the public domain : The legislation gives guidance to the USPTO on what is not patentable – in this case genetic material, naturally-occurring or modified. It is not retroactive – it does not rescind the patents already issued. Patents are granted for a period of 20 years from the date that an application is originally filed. “Thus, if we enact this bill into law quickly, we will reach balance in less than two decades – a patent-free genome that does not hinder scientific research, business enterprise, or human morality,” Rep. Becerra said.
I couldn't find the bill on THOMAS, but a bill of the same name was introduced back in 2002 by Representative Lynn Rivers [D-MI13] and, again, Representative Weldon. It would seem that the current bill is somewhat different. The 2002 bill amended the law to permit as non-infringing certain uses of patented genetic sequences. It does not, by my reading, halt or proscribe the issuance of patents on genetic sequences. The statements above appear to indicate that Becerra's and Weldon's current bill do precisely that : prevent the ongoing practice of patenting genetic sequences. I look forward to reading the bill... perhaps someone else can find it where I failed... -k ] Patenting Life | 
