Curiosity Cabinet: The Harvard Mice
On April 12th, 1988, a patent was granted to Harvard College by the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO). It bears the number 4.736.866 and concerns a genetically modified mouse, an oncomouse. For the first time, an animal became an invention protected by the intellectual property law. The "Harvard Mouse", as it is called, was designed in 1984 in the laboratories of the famous American university as part of breast cancer research. It was modified by introducing an oncogene, a gene promoting the development of tumors in mammary cells. In addition to the fact that such manipulation raises ethical questions, it gave rise to another debate: the Munich Convention of 1973 on European Patents that excludes from patentability "plant and animal varieties, as well as essentially biological processes". Also the EPO (European Patent Office) refuses to issue a title to the inventors of the oncomouse. But this decision is disputed, and a long legal debate commits itself, which does not end until July 6th, 2004. Finally, it is decided that the advantages brought to humanity by this particular treatment of the mouse are superior to the dangers incurred by the animal. The invention is not contrary to "public order and morality" (which would have made it impossible to patent), and in addition, the oncomouse is not a new breed, but only the living support of an invention. For its part, the Supreme Court of Canada, decided too, in 2002, that a higher life form is "neither a manufacturer nor a composition of materials within the meaning of the word "invention" " and therefore it can not be patented.
Picture: "The Harvard Mice" collection of the National Museum of American History.
