What Makes It My Molecule: A Look at Professor Ronald Pearlman’s Genome Editing Work

This past November, Professor Ronald E. Pearlman from York University’s Department of Biology gave a talk [1] at Osgoode Hall Law School to discuss the potential of the innovative CRISPR genome editing system. Central to the talk was the evolving nature of genome editing technology and the ethical concerns that come with its growing breadth of […]

U.S. Court of Appeals Stands Tall on the Subject of Gene Patents in the Wake of the Mayo v Prometheus Ruling

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in the case Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) and ACLU v. USPTO and Myriad Genetics (Myriad), held in August that isolated genes are a patent-eligible subject matter. The Court of Appeals reaffirmed its prior ruling on the matter, which was recently covered by IP Osgoode.

A Wait and See Approach to privacy in Genomics

Virgil Cojocaru is a JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. deCODE Genetics, an Icelandic firm that offers customers private DNA tests has filed for bankruptcy. Customers would typically take a genetic sample from the inside of their cheek and would mail it to the address provided.  deCODE Genetics would calculate the chances of a person […]

Privacy Rights Violated by Police Holding Photos

A recent Court of Appeal decision in England declared that retention of photos taken of a man by the police long after it was determined that no crime had occurred by the person was a breach of privacy. Andrew Wood was photographed as he was leaving the annual general meeting of Reed Elsevier plc, which […]

Human Rights Court rules against UK's DNA database

Last Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights made an important ruling on the privacy of a person’s unique genetic information. The European Court, citing a Supreme Court of Canada decision with approval, determined that it was an illegal violation of a person’s rights to keep a person’s DNA sample when they had no prior […]