Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The sustainability of many research endeavors, particularly in controversial areas, requires an understanding of public concerns. As such, governance strategies should be developed to sustain public trust.
Nothing in US patent law has a more drastic effect on an inventor's patent than a finding of inequitable conduct, so understanding the principles of the doctrine can be valuable in saving your patent from being found unenforceable.
As biotechnology advances, the day may soon come for the creation of a self-aware, human-nonhuman chimera. The USPTO has ruled on whether a patent may issue on such an organism, but Congress must still legislate a dividing line between human and non-human patentable subject matter.