WARF's Stem Cell Patents and Tensions between Public and Private Sector Approaches to Research

39 Pages Posted: 19 Jul 2011 Last revised: 18 Apr 2013

See all articles by John M. Golden

John M. Golden

University of Texas at Austin - School of Law

Date Written: July 19, 2011

Abstract

Three U.S. patents held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) have been at the center of debates about the extent to which patents directed to human embryonic stem cells should be permitted to limit or to tax research. The story of WARF’s patents not only highlights continuing tensions between proprietary and nonproprietary approaches to developing science and technology, but also suggests an at least partly reassuring capacity of public and private sectors to render those tensions substantially manageable, frequently more so as a technology matures. In particular, the story of WARF’s patents features three leitmotifs that indicate how society might often achieve workable balances between proprietary rights and more general social interests: (1) right holders’ decisions to pursue less than full rights assertion or enforcement; (2) the ability of government and other public sector actors to help bring about such decisions through co-option or pressure; and (3) the frequent availability or development of technological alternatives that limit research bottlenecks.

Keywords: WARF, stem cell, patent

Suggested Citation

Golden, John M., WARF's Stem Cell Patents and Tensions between Public and Private Sector Approaches to Research (July 19, 2011). Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 314-331, Summer 2010, U of Texas Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 198, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1889117

John M. Golden (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Austin - School of Law ( email )

School of Law
727 East Dean Keeton Street
Austin, TX 78705
United States
(512) 232-1469 (Phone)

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