Bayer filed for stem cell patent before Kyoto Univ team

Monday 05th January, 06:50 AM JST

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6 Comments

herefornow at 09:31 AM JST - 5th January

OOOOPs!!!!! Tough to have a government policy based on a technology that someone else registered first.
whyamiinjapan at 11:23 AM JST - 5th January

Ha haa! Jayzus.
NuckinFutz at 12:38 PM JST - 5th January

Japan will more than likely ignore the patents and claim their iPS cells are "a homogenous society of cells" (Japanese that is) allowing them to continue research.
BigInJapan at 01:37 PM JST - 5th January

Well,the Japanese can be very flexible about patents, contacts and other Western black magic if it is what makes them profit.
adm_kenshin at 06:00 AM JST - 6th January

I've never heard about the Japanese government breaking contracts unpunished, do you have any examples?

Patents are a different game however, and I'm happy to see that Japan continues to give them the respect they deserve.
LFRAgain at 09:28 AM JST - 6th January

And here we see the obvious downside of patent law, where the desire to generate profit effectively stifles the kind of creativity that could allow both teams to make significant breakthroughs through cooperation. Clearly, both teams were racing towards this goal simultaneously, but it seems foolish and wasteful that either should be forced to abandon its research because the other got something so arbitrary as a piece of paper saying, "We did it first." I say arbitrary because the claim was made by the Bayer team only three months before the Kyoto University team regarding research that is the culmination of years of research.

Granted, patent law helps protect companies' investments, but it also criples unique lines of thinking, which is a disservice to everyone.