The good 'ol US of A is a sick, sick country.

PATENT ON BEAGLE DOGS CANCELLED
University of Texas System "Disclaims Remaining Term" of Patent on Sickened Dogs

WASHINGTON - In a major victory for patented beagle dogs, the Board of Regents of the
University of Texas System (UT) in Austin, Texas, disclaimed "the entire remaining term of all the claims" of patent #6,444,872, which covers live beagle dogs intended for use in experiments. In February 2004, the nonprofit organizations the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) and the PatentWatch Project of the Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) filed a legal challenge urging the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel the beagle patent. Last week, the Patent Office agreed to reexamine the patent.

"This is a tremendous victory not just for the beagle dogs but for the 499 other animals who have been patented in the U.S.," said AAVS President Sue Leary, "The University took the only morally defensible action it could in the face of our challenge. It got the message that animals are not machines, articles of manufacture, or inventors' compositions of matter."

The patent's claims covered, among other things, "a canine model [of fungal lung infection]," and the various methods used to induce a fatal lung infection in the beagle dogs. The patent also indicated applying the methods to pigs, sheep, monkeys, or chimpanzees and, like many other patents on animals, appeared to be exclusively licensed to a private company.
"This decision, hopefully, is a first step to rescinding all patents on animals," says Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of CTA. "It is long past time for our government to recognize that animals are not patentable machines."

The AAVS/PatentWatch challenge represented the first time public interest organizations had
requested the reexamination of a patent on an animal. New rules under which this reexamination was granted will permit AAVS and PatentWatch to appeal other similar cases all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. Since the Patent and Trademark Office first issued a patent on an animal in 1987, it has issued nearly 500 patent applications on animals.
A nationwide poll of U.S. adults commissioned by AAVS earlier this year found that two out of three people consider it unethical to issue patents on animals as if they were human inventions. Eighty-five percent of those surveyed were not even aware that governments and corporations are getting patents on animals.

"The swift decision of the University to drop all patent claims on sickened beagles demonstrates the patent's weakness, both scientifically and morally," said Tina Nelson, AAVS Executive Director. '"This will be the first of many patents on animals that will crumble under public scrutiny when the truth is told."

The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) is a non-profit animal advocacy and educational organization dedicated to ending experiments on animals in research, testing, and education. Founded in Philadelphia in 1883, AAVS is the oldest organization in the United States dedicated to eliminating experiments on animals. AAVS pursues its objectives through legal and effective advocacy, education, and support of the development of non-animal alternative methods.

The Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) is a public interest and advocacy organization that works to address the impacts of technology on human health, animal welfare, and the environment.

The PatentWatch Project of the International Center for Technology Assessment works to expose and challenge the inappropriate use of the U.S. patent system.


For more information, including document downloads, visit: www.StopAnimalPatents.org.

I am outraged at this, I had no idea that ANYBODY would consider patenting a living creature. What's next, a patent on cloned humans so the government will own your clone?

It is sick! Itr's a wonder the patent office ever allowed it in the first place! But don't judge all of us on the stupidity of others.

LittlePill said:

Of course not dear But.... honestly, were you aware of this?

Teacher said:

This is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing.

LittlePill said:

See? That's what the article said, that 85% of the american people didn't know it existed. Surely if the people become aware of it it'll go away. Say it's so

Teacher said:

I would imagine once word of this gets around a lot of animal rights group are gonna raise enough hell about it to hopefully outlaw it.

this is disgusting

It's so good to see that the americans on this site are so outraged at this