Pending resolution: the question of who owns DNA

With the emergence of the Human Genome Project and its private counterparts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has begun receiving applications for the patenting of genes and genetic sequences. Earlier patent decisions regarding similar scientific advances limited patents to organisms "made by the hand of man," which would seem to remove discovered genes from patent protection. But many applicants have been successful in attaining patents for genes based on their ability to demonstrate the ultimate utility of the gene, for instance in medicine. One controversy regarding genomic patenting, however, is that patents apparently have been granted for mere gene fragments devoid of much demonstrable utility. Furthermore, critics fear that gene patenting will retard research by squelching scientists' ability to share findings freely.