Submissions to Senate Inquiry on 'Gene Patent' Amendments Due Friday!

This is just a reminder, to those with substantive interests in the patenting of genetic and other biological materials, that submissions to the Australian Senate Inquiry established to report on the Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010 are due this Friday, 25 February 2011.

As we reported back on 25 November 2010, this Bill proposing to outlaw the patenting of human genes and other naturally-occurring biological materials, was introduced into the Australian federal parliament as a Private Senator's Bill, co-sponsored by Senators Coonan, Heffernan, Siewert and Xenophon.

Further details of the inquiry can be found in our report of 23 December 2010.

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Before You Go…

Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful.  Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.

But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour.  If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research.  My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection.  But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me.  If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.

The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months.  No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar.  You might even find it to be fun!

There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net.  In particular, you can read:

1. a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
2. instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.

Thank you for considering this request!

Mark Summerfield

Tags: Australia, Genetic technology, Patentable subject matter