Re: PNG forced to buy-back Hagahai Patent

Les Tate (ltate@hiwaay.net)
Sun, 22 Sep 1996 21:52:58 -0600

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Maybe in reply to: aroham@nzonline.ac.nz: "PNG forced to buy-back Hagahai Patent"

> ...allowing the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government to claim patent
> rights on behalf of the Hagahai people over the...Hagahai
> cell line...(T)he PNG government is expected to pay out nearly
> $US6,000 (K7,790)...(which is) a maintenance fee...payable to the US
> Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) for their safe-keeping of the
> cell line.

I am glad to see the rights of the Hagahai to their genetic heritage
finally protected. However the fee is likely for filing or maintenance
of the patent which protects the rights of the Hagahai, and not for
safe-keeping of the cell line. The USPTO is a paperwork office and does
not maintain preservation facilities for organisms, etc.

Les Tate

Next article: Scott Robert Ladd: "Defrauding the Western Shoshone, September 1996"
Previous article: John Berry: "Thakiwa Foundation agriculture program / projects (Oklahoma)"
Maybe in reply to: aroham@nzonline.ac.nz: "PNG forced to buy-back Hagahai Patent"