Copyright Your DNA

from the protect-against-unlawful-cloning dept

Worried that someone might try to clone you against your wishes? Okay, me neither, but one company is betting that people more famous than you or I will be concerned about such things. Thus, they're offering folks a chance to copyright their DNA in an attempt to give them more legal standing should anyone try to make a clone of them - against their wishes. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase intellectual property. What about someone who copyrights their DNA and then has a kid? Has the kid violated the copyright by sharing a portion of the parent's DNA? Identical twins? Who owns the rights? And, of course, as the article points out, what happens after you win a case against someone who cloned you?
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Ed, 16 Aug 2001 @ 3:38pm

    Scam?

    Copyrights are supposed to be reserved for creative works. I believe that past cases have held that certain works like telephone white pages are not copyrightable because there's no creativity involved in compiling them. It seems to me that copyrighting one's DNA would fail for this reason alone. Also, exactly what form is supposed to be copyrighted here? One's DNA sequence? Hasn't it taken years to sequence one individual's DNA? Or could I just smear a tissue sample on a piece of paper and put a copyright notice on it? If so, what do I need this company for?

    In summary, this has as much chance of success as the guy who wants to light up the moon with laser pointers.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.