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The human use of humanoid beings: chimeras and patent law

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.

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References

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  13. 35 USC 103(b).

  14. Animal and gene patent moratorium bill is reintroduced. 45 Pat. Trademark & Copyright J. 347 (Feb. 25, 1993).

  15. See, e.g., HR 922, 105th Cong. (1998); HR 923, 105th Cong. (1998); HR 2326, 106th Cong. (1999).

  16. Exec. Order 12,975 3 CFR 409 (1996).

  17. See, e.g., Wright. Cloning human beings: Report and recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. 38 Jurimetrics J. 3 (1999).

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  20. See, e.g., Hames, B.D. & Glover, D.M. Molecular Immunology, edn.2, 191 (Oxford University Press, New York, 1996).

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Rabin, S. The human use of humanoid beings: chimeras and patent law. Nat Biotechnol 24, 517–519 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0506-517

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