US Company Claims Patents in Pet Dog Cloning

A Texan patent-licensing firm said it will take legal actions against a Korean dog-cloning company, which it insists is breaching its patents.

Start Licensing, an Austin-based patent management firm, said Korea's RNL Bio is using techniques developed by the Roslin Institute, the British institution that cloned Dolly the Sheep. The U.S. company said it ``manages and licenses a broad portfolio of intellectual property rights related to animal reproductive technologies,'' including foundational nuclear transfer cloning technology developed at the Roslin Institute.

The reaction came after RNL Bio announced last week that it became the first in the world to clone pet dogs for commercial purposes, with a $150,000 contract to clone a pit bull named Booger. The firm is in partnership with a Seoul National University team, which has succeeded in cloning dogs and wolves.

Start Licensing insisted all non-human animal cloning applications are subject to its patents.

``Start will protect its patent rights,'' said Jonathan Thatcher, president of Start Licensing. ``We will take all necessary actions and pursue every available legal remedy to do so.''

The Roslin institute had nine patents registered in Korea regarding animal cloning. Three of them are related to RNL Bio's dog cloning business, said Start Licensing. But the firm didn't say how exactly RNL Bio is infringing upon its patents and how it will resolve the issue. ``Start Licensing will be ready to discuss this matter soon, and will contact you at that time,'' said the firm's public relations agency in an e-mail to The Korea Times.

RNL Bio admitted the news caught it off guard, but said it won't affect its business.

``We haven't had any communications with Start Licensing. We are not taking the claim very seriously,'' said an official of the firm, who requested anonymity. ``The Seoul National University team has its own patents filed in Korea and we believe there is no problem in cloning dogs using those patents,'' she said.

To clone Booger, the university's researchers are using cells taken from its ear tissue and inserted them into ova which were then implanted into eight female dogs, RNL Bio said. Currently, the yield is about one fertilized ova in eight, it said.
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
indizio@koreatimes.co.kr
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World Trade Organization's definition of Intellectual Property Rights:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel1_e.htm
US information on Patent Law Treaty:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/ir_pat_plt.htm

DISCUSSION IDEAS:
Should the invention of a process be "owned?" (Intellectual Property)

Does this ownership create unfair barriers to competition?

Should the laws be on an international scope? Does an international application of patent law create unfair global trade? For instance, if the U.S. is a "richer" country than Korea, should a company in the U.S. be allowed to sit on a patent even though a company in Korea has entered the market with an end product sooner?

What do you think about cloning pets?
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