Re: ``Nothing like a monopoly to get investors to cheer youon''

["Eric M. Bennett" <ericb@pobox.com>]

Charles Behney wrote:

>The patent for valium was a molecular mirror of the main constituent of
>valerian root.
>Valium is patentable, valeric acid is not. THC variations would be patentable,
>naturally occurring cannabinols are not.  That's what I meant about herbs
>and patents.

Some biotech companies were trying a few years ago to patent enzymes made
by certain bacteria on the grounds that "we discovered the enzymes first!"
Since these enzymes are important research tools, there was quite an outcry
from the research community.  But I haven't heard anything about this in a
year or so, and I don't know what the outcome was.



--
Eric Bennett (http://www.pobox.com/~ericb/)
Cornell University, Field of Biochemistry
377 Olin Chemistry Lab

TIP: Buy Apple Computer
WHY: According to Microsoft, the big, bad, scary Macintosh-maker threatened
Bill Gates's poor little company in 1997.
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