2009 Nobel Ribosome Structures — Patented

tabascoj writes 'The announcement of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry is the latest reminder that fundamental components of biology are being increasingly, and aggressively, patented. A commentary, from yalepatents.org, focuses on the research and subsequent patents, held by Yale and Thomas Steitz, one of this year's laureates.'

How

[Dyinobal]

How in the world do you patent something like this. I expect the people at the patent office see the patent request and are like "What the hell is this?" then a few guys pass it around and all decided they dunno what it is. So they shrug "Must be new" out comes the patent approved stamp!

Re:patents...

[Random2]

New rule: you can not patent anything that you yourself did not create.

So, does that mean I can patent my children? Maybe they'll give me a Nobel peace prize for it too.

Re:license fee?

[schon]

On the plus side, it does give you some leverage with poorly-behaved children. :)

"Eat your vegetables, or I won't pay your license fee, and Monsanto will come to take you away!"