Public Domain Sharing, Patents, and Fees Resulting from Research Involving Genetic Databases

The paper is a draft chapter of a forthcoming book discussing the ethical and legal issues of human genetic databases. Reporting data collected as part of a qualitative research project, the present chapter discusses some aspects of the commercialization of genetic research. In addressing the commercialization debate, we focus on three areas: the obligation to put data in the public domain; patenting rights and publicly funded research; and, the admissibility of fees imposed on researchers using a repository. The findings of this study suggest that commercialization is a very controversial topic. The different views are difficult to reconcile because they reflect substantial disagreements about the basic purpose of scientific research and the appropriate conditions for its conduct. Therefore, the debate on patenting rights and commercial exploitation of genetic research is not easily settled. Indeed controversies may well heat up in the future, given the increasing need for studies involving multiple populations in different regions of the world