To the Editor:

As the inventor of the Kauffman/Ballivet patent, I read with interest your recent commentary (Nature Biotechnol. 17, 2, 1999). I believe I can contribute two important additional pieces of information.

First, the commentary presents a brief chronicle of scientific literature pertinent to the Kauffman/Ballivet patent. The date of filing of the patent is critical in order to evaluate this literature in the context of prior art. The Kauffman/Ballivet patent series claims priority from early 1985.

Second, the final sentence of the piece expresses the hope that the price of licensing the Kauffman/Ballivet patent will not be too high. In fact, we intend to make the patent available on a nonexclusive basis to anyone who needs it. To this end, it is interesting that reference is made in your piece to the Cohen and Boyer patent. We have developed a licensing program in consultation with Niels Reimber who devised the licensing program for the Cohen and Boyer patent.

I hope this information is useful.