Team:Oxford/P&P intellectual property

From 2014.igem.org

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(Undo revision 399957 by SMcGibbon (talk))
 
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<div style="background-color:white; opacity:0.7; Height:75px; width:100%;margin-top:5px:margin-bottom:5px;font-size:65px;font-family:Helvetica;padding-top:5px; color:#00000; font-weight: 450;"><br><center><font style="opacity:0.7">Environmental impact</font></center></div>
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<div style="background-color:white; opacity:0.7; Height:75px; width:100%;margin-top:5px:margin-bottom:5px;font-size:65px;font-family:Helvetica;padding-top:5px; color:#00000; font-weight: 450;"><br><center><font style="opacity:0.7">Intellectual Property</font></center></div>
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<h1blue2>Uses</h1blue2>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/5/5c/OxiGEM_IP.jpg" style="float:right;position:relative; width:30%;" />
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Intellectual Property is an increasingly important and controversial aspect of scientific advance, and synthetic biology is perhaps the paradigmatic area illustrating the effects of growing legal influence. When thinking about how teams could turn their ideas from iGEM projects into viable real-world solutions, we realized that intellectual property is a crucial area to address.
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Chlorinated solvents are organic solvents containing chlorine atoms in their molecular structure. They have a huge range of uses by individuals, professionals, and industry.
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Our team has produced a report exploring how teams can approach this task and how iGEM intellectual property policy can make the transition easier.
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The chlorinated solvent DCM has been used in industry for over 80 years. Its unique combination of properties - low boiling point, high solvency power, relative inertness, low toxicity and non flammability - has led to its wide variety of applications. It is the most widely-used of the chlorinated solvents, particularly for pharmaceutical production, and is also used as an extraction medium/process solvent (Eurochlor). For these reasons, our team has chosen to use DCM as the case study chemical for which we will develop a bioremedication mechanism eventually applicable to all chlorinated solvents.
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We begin with a brief overview of current intellectual property law (specifically relevant to the UK) before progressing to look at the challenges this poses for the iGEM competition. A number of different approaches which iGEM might choose to adopt towards intellectual property are discussed and the pros and cons of each are assessed. We then asked a range of interested groups, including iGEM students, professionals, and the public, for their views before concluding with recommendations for addressing intellectual property concerns in iGEM. We offer our conclusions in the form of advice to students, to the iGEM foundation, and briefly explore how a change in the law could have consequences for iGEM. This advice is purely based on our own views and our research which we hope will make interesting food for thought - it is not professional legal advice and should not be relied on as such!
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<a href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/8/86/IP_REPORTWEBVER.pdf">
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<h1blue2>Who produces chlorinated solvent waste, and why?</h1blue2>
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Our policy research in relation to students, the iGEM foundation, and policy makers is summarized below, or download the full report to learn more about our work.
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<h1blue2>Team Policy</h1blue2>
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The worldwide production of DCM alone is estimated at around 570,000 tonnes, of which approximately 270,000 tonnes are thought to be produced in western Europe. Figures for chlorinated solvents generally are far higher but difficult to estimate with any accuracy due to the wide range of applications, which sometimes involve the use of only a small amount of solvent which individually be discounted but cumulatively these small scale uses are significant. 
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Dealing with intellectual property is not only necessary on the level of the competition - each team must also make decisions as to how they wish to deal with the intellectual property they will acquire during the course of their project. Deciding whether to file a patent application can be a tricky decision - below are just some of the factors you might want to take into consideration…
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Eurochlor, the EU body responsible for the European Chlorinated Solvents Association) analyses the uses and impact of chlorinated solvents in three categories:<br>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/8/84/OxigemIP_Flowchart2.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative; width:100%;margin-bottom:5%;" />
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<li><h1black style="font-size: 100%;">Industrial</h1black>
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Chlorinated solvents have too many industrial applications to list. Amongst the most essential are food production, cleaning, the textile industry, manufacturing, foam blowing, fire extinguishers, and as an extraction solvent and functional fluid.</li>
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<li><h1black style="font-size: 100%;">Professional</h1black>
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Oxford iGEM 2014
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These solvents are widely used in laboratories, as well as extensive use in dry cleaning, film cleaning and copying, aerosols, adhesives, and packaging.</li>
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Prominent uses include aerosols (despite controversies, chlorinated solvents remain present in a wide range of aerosol products including hairspray and deodorant), glue and other home decorating products such as paint and paint stripper. Chlorinated solvents are also common in home-use pest control sprays and are found in various washing and cleaning products. </li>
 
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<br><h1blue2>Environmental Impact</h1blue2>
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<h1blue2>Attitudes Survey</h1blue2>
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Current disposal methods for chlorinated solvents are inadequate on every level. Because individual users may use chlorinated solvents infrequently or in very small amounts, they make not think it worthwhile, may not have the means, or may lack the knowledge/understanding of chlorinated solvents to ensure waste is disposed of properly. Cumulatively, these small incidents amount to a large volume of chlorinated solvents which are simply poured down the drain or otherwise dangerously disposed of, leading to grave and often long-lasting environmental damage.
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We conducted a survey of attitudes within iGEM teams to intellectual property. The results, illustrated below, are analysed in detail in our report. Broadly, we found a noticeable lack of understanding of IP issues (confirming the findings of University of British Columbia iGEM team 2013 - check out their great work on IP which we used as a starting point for our own research at https://2012.igem.org/Team:British_Columbia/Human_Practices/IP_FAQ), and a great deal of social-mindedness in the responses.
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For worse is the impact of the much greater volumes of chlorinated solvents used professionally and in industry. Although disposal is regulated and there are high penalties for failure to deal properly chlorinated waste, contamination remains an issue. Meanwhile, even that waste which is disposed of in accordance with procedure causes environmental harm; currently chlorinated solvents which can no longer be recycled are simply incinerated, released damaging compounds into the atmosphere.  
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For a complete analysis of our results, take a look at our Intellectual Property Report...
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<h1blue>“Quote from EA how bad chlorinated solvents are, how many hundreds of thousands/millions it costs to clean them up, & this is paid by taxpayers, how standards are lower in other countries…”</h1blue>
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<h1blue2>British Environment Agency</h1blue2>
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Click the images below to discover more about the damage caused by chlorinated solvent waste to the atmosphere, biosphere, ground and surface water, and to the marine environment.<br><br>
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The Environmental Protection Agency has expressed fears that even short lived halocarbons may have a significant detrimental effect on the global atmosphere, as well as concerns about our relative lack of understanding of the environmental effects of these compounds<font style="vertical-align: super; font-size: 70%;">2</font>. Several chlorinated solvents are listed by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) as a hazardous air pollutant (HAP) under the U.S. Clean Air Act. However, various environmental NGOs and organisations maintain that current regulation of chlorinated solvent disposal is inadequate - for example, chlorinated solvents are not regulated under the Montreal Protocol despite evidence that they may contribute to ozone depletion.  
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The majority of teams (85%) appear to feel that there is at least the possibility that their project could be turned into a viable business or project – this makes sense given that many teams seek to use their project as an opportunity to use synthetic biology to address a problem.
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Again, this chart shows how many teams believe their project is relevant to society. There was a split, slightly skewed towards commercial investment, in terms of the favoured means of funding, although it should be noted that many participants selected more than one option, suggesting mixed feelings and uncertainty on this question. Donation to the public domain was a popular option, indicating that many students support the BioBrick agreement and are keen to contribute their parts to it.  
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Responses to this question support the need for guidance for iGEM teams on IP issues. Possible explanations for this the larger than expected (29%) group selecting 'adequate' include: evidence of a Drunning-Kruger effect whereby people overestimate their level of knowledge; underestimating the significance and relevance of intellectual property law to synthetic biology; or a genuinely adequate understanding amongst students.  
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<center><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/2/20/Patentability_Views_Graph.jpg" width="685" height="287" /></center>
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<div class="issuedate">Sangamo patents zinc finger nuclease technology</div>
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<p>Sangamo's patent, titled "Nucleic acid binding proteins (zinc finger proteins design rules)", ensures that any use or production of zinc fingers with attached nucleases is the intellectual property of Sangamo.</p>
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The graph indicates that profit is the least important considerations to students, but all others ranked more or less equally overall. The most important factor overall was benefit to society.
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<h1blue2> Photochemical Smog</h1blue2>
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<a href="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/8/80/OxiGEMIntellectual_Property_Survey.pdf">
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TCE and PBRC have both been linked to photochemical smog. Both these chemicals are used extensively in the textiles industry and current disposal is inadequate. Photochemical smog is a unique form of air pollution, caused by reactions between sunlight and pollutants. The products of these reactions are generally 'secondary' pollutants such as hydrocarbons or ozone (which in the lower atmosphere is not desirable as it causes irritation to the respiratory tract).  
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/d/dd/Get_Involved_IP_Survey_Top.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative; width:95%; margin-right:2.5%;margin-left:2.5%;" /></a>
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Photochemical smog is known to cause respiratory problems in humans and animals. Because the chemicals can travel on the wind, the problem can potentially affect all areas although it tends to be most serious in large cities.
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<h1blue2>Young Synthetic Biologists Intellectual Property Workshop</h1blue2>
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<h1blue2>Global Warming</h1blue2>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/9a/OxiGEMYSB_Logo.jpg" style="float:right;position:relative; width:30%;" />
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In the process of putting together our report and our guidance for iGEM teams, our team, in collaboration with the event organisers Philipp and Bethan of UCL iGEM, ran an intellectual property workshop at the Young Synthetic Biologists Conference 2.0 for other iGEMmers interested in the issue. The event was a great success; teams attending said 'I hadn't really appreciated just how big an impact this area of law could have on scientific development and particularly on synthetic biology - it's given me a lot to think about!'. We had a great time and there were some really interesting and insightful debates and comments - thanks especially to iGEM Cambridge for their passion on this topic!
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Dichloromethane has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) ten times greater than that of carbon dioxide, whilst trichloromethane has a GWP 30 times greater. At the time of writing, the GWPs of tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene are not known, but are expected to be comparable to those for DCM and TCM.  
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Another team member stated, 'I don't think our team had really put much thought into the IP ownership of our project - it's definitely something we should consider though, as we would want to be able to stop anyone using our project for potentially harmful research'. 'I always thought IP was kind of a binary question - you either patent something, or you give it away. But there are so many options in between. It's a very nuanced area of law, I think that's the main thing I hadn't really appreciated, there are lots of different ways you can share or protect your ideas'.
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<h1blue2>View the Oxford iGEM powerpoint presentation used as the basis for our workshop below!</h1blue2>
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In the lower atmosphere degradation of chlorinated solvents is initiated by a reaction with the hydroxyl radical, and forms a variety of products including hydrochloric acid, formic acid, and phosgene (the colourless gas infamous for its use as a chemical weapon during World War One). These compounds dissolve in clouds and rain water, and are ultimately deposited from the atmosphere in acid the form of rain and snow.
 
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Further, trichloroacetic acid (TCA) can be formed as a minor product in the atmospheric de-gradation of some chlorinated solvents. Studies have shown that TCA is broadly distributed in precipitation, surface water and soil on a global scale. Since the observed levels in soil in some areas have been found to exceed the accepted 'safe' levels (2.4 μg/kg for terrestrial organisms) the European Commission instructed producers of the relevant solvents to carry out extensive studies of the origin and fate of environmental TCA. Although the results of these studies suggest that TCA levels in soils could not be explained by precipitation alone, the European Union Risk Assessment nevertheless concluded that “it is considered unlikely that depo-sition of TCA from the atmosphere will by itself lead to levels of TCA in soil that pose a risk for ter-restrial organisms”.
 
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<h1blue2><center>Biosphere</center></h1blue2>  
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/6/64/OxiGem_Slide3.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
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</a>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/6/64/OxiGem_Slide3.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
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</a>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/5/56/Slide4.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
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</a>
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 +
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/5/56/Slide4.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
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</a>
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<a href="#show5" class="show" id="show5">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/31/OxiGem_Slide5.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
 +
</a>
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 +
<a href="#hide5" class="hide" id="hide5">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/31/OxiGem_Slide5.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
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</a>
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<br><br><br><br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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<h1blue2>Humans</h1blue2>
 
-
<br><br>
 
-
The Reference Dose (an estimate of the maximum level of continuous exposure to the human population which is unlikely to pose any significant risk of detrimental effects (excluding the risk of cancer of the course of a lifetime)) for DCM is 0.06 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. Worryingly, DCM has been found in some urban air and at some hazardous waste sites at average concentrations of 11 ppb of air, and the average daily intake of methylene chloride from outdoor air in three U.S. cities may reach 309 micrograms per day, suggesting it is entirely possible that intake may exceeds the reference dose in individual cases.
 
-
The most frequent and dangerous exposure to chlorinated solvents generally occur in workplaces where the chemical is present. Workers are at risk of breathing in chlorinated solvents or accidently coming into skin contact with chemicals. Previous studies have shown concentrations of up to 1,000 ppm of DCM in air (note that 1 part per million is 1,000 times more than 1 part per billion) have been detected in general work areas, and even higher concentrations of up to 1,400 ppm have been detected in samples in the breathing zone of some workers. Such exposure levels far exceed the current recommended federal limits; The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimated that 1 million workers may be exposed to dangerous levels of dichloromethane, and for chlorinated solvents generally the figure is much higher.
 
-
<br>
 
-
DCM and other chlorinated solvents can have a devastating impact on human health. Case studies of DCM poisoning during paint stripping operations have shown that overexposure can be fatal to humans. Acute inhalation exposure can cause short term damage to the central nervous system including detriment to visual, auditory, and psychomotor functions, and irritation to the nose and throat.
 
-
The major effects of chronic inhalation of DCM are also effects on the nervous system, including headaches, nausea, memory loss, and possibly dizziness. There is currently a lack of research indicating whether there may be developmental or reproductive effects in humans, although animal studies have previously shown that if DCM passes through the placental barrier there is a high risk of skeletal variations and/or lower fetal body weight. DCM is also considered to be a probable human carcinogen. Although research in this area is incomplete, animal studies have shown a sharp increase in liver and lung cancer and in mammary gland tumors following exposure to DCM. The US Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that, by a weight of evidence evaluation, 'dichloromethane is [and should be treated as] carcinogenic by a mutagenic mode of action'.
 
-
<br><br>
 
-
<h1blue2>Animals</h1blue2>
 
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<br><br>
 
-
Tests have shown that acute exposure to DCM causes moderate acute toxicity from oral/inhalation exposure in many animals. Chronic exposure can lead to problems with the liver, kidneys, nervous and cardiovascular systems of a variety of animals.
 
-
There is also a risk, to humans as well as to animals, that DCM will be broken down by the body form carbon monoxide, which can cause respiratory problems and can ultimately be fatal.
 
-
<br><br>
 
-
<h1blue2>Plants</h1blue2>
 
-
<br><br>
 
-
The No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC) for the most sensitive species of plants was 46 μg/m
 
 +
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/9a/OxiGem_Slide7.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
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</a>
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<a href="#hide6" class="hide" id="hide6">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/9a/OxiGem_Slide7.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
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</a>
</div>
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<br>
 
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<div class="row">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/8/80/Oxigemgrass.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative;width:96%;margin-left:2%;" />
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<a href="#show7" class="show" id="show7">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/90/Slide8.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
</a>
</a>
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  <a href="#hide3" class="hide" id="hide3">
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  <a href="#hide7" class="hide" id="hide7">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/8/80/Oxigemgrass.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative; width:96%;margin-left:2%" />
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/90/Slide8.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
</a>
</a>
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  <div class="list">
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<div class="white_news_block2">
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<h1blue2><center>Ground & Surface Water</center></h1blue2>
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<div class="row">
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 +
<a href="#show8" class="show" id="show8">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/d/d0/OxiGem_Slide9.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
 +
</a>
 +
 
 +
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/d/d0/OxiGem_Slide9.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
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</a>
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</div>
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 +
<a href="#show9" class="show" id="show9">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/c/c1/OxiGem_Slide10.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
 +
</a>
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 +
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/c/c1/OxiGem_Slide10.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
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</a>
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 +
<a href="#show10" class="show" id="show10">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/7/7e/OxiGem_Slide11.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative;width:18%;margin-left:2%;" />
 +
</a>
 +
 
 +
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/7/7e/OxiGem_Slide11.JPG" style="float:left;position:relative; width:90%;margin-left:5%;margin-right:5%" />
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</a>
 +
</div>
 +
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
 +
<br><br><br>
 +
Special thanks for the success of this event are owed to:
 +
 +
<br>Bethan  Wolfenden and Philipp Boeing for organising and iGEM UCL for hosting the YSB event
 +
<br>Andrew Russell, Glen Gowers, and Philipp Lorenz
 +
<br>Dundee, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and all the other teams which attended and had such enthusiasm for the debate!
 +
<br>
 +
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</div>
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 +
<div class="white_news_block">
 +
<h1blue2> iGEM policy </h1blue2>
-
<h1blue2> Ground Water</h1blue2>
 
<br><br>
<br><br>
-
TCE and TeCE are amongst the common contaminants and are particularly tricky to deal with due to the fact that their biodegradation pathways start off with reductive dechlorination to vinyl chloride, which in an anaerobic environment works fine. But then the process often gets stuck at vinyl chloride as that is typically oxidised in groundwater. With VC being far more carcinogenic than TCE and TeCE this is a problem.
+
Given its ever increasing prominence in the field of synthetic biology and its unavoidable influence on the future of the field, iGEM must cannot remain neutral on the matter of intellectual property. In the words of iGEM start-up Morph Bioinformatics, <h1blue3>“iGEM must position itself and not only define its role in the world of biotech - but also how it sees the role of synbio”.</h1blue3>
-
<br> TCE is probably the prevalent groundwater contaminant these days.
+
-
In a public health statement, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR) admitted that we do not know precisely how long chlorinated solvents may remain in the soil. What we do know, however, is that chlorinated solvents are a 'big deal' in groundwater - in fact, they are the most frequently detected groundwater contaminant in the USA. ASTDR also concedes that there is a possibility of contamination of drinking water by chlorinated solvents including dichloromethane1.  
+
-
+
<br><br>
<br><br>
 +
iGEM’s approach to intellectual property will be intrinsically related to its overall position and self-definition in this exciting emerging field. <h1blue3>“It is time now to rationalize this 'big picture' and find a business model by treating the public, academia, biotech, pharma etc. as different units to optimize and synergize their outputs. And as with all business and communities the major factor of success is to follow one ultimate vision - and that should remain increasing the quality of life”.</h1blue3>
<br><br>
<br><br>
-
<h1blue2>Surface Water</h1blue2>
+
iGEM’s approach to intellectual property being critical for the future of the competition, its teams, and even the future of synthetic biology, our report analyses three alternative approaches to iGEM in dealing with this legal issue.
<br><br>
<br><br>
-
Chlorinated solvent pollution also affect surface water - although these chemicals tend to volatilise, and are extensively diluted in big rivers, the environmental and drinking water quality standards are very low in comparison to their solubility. The figures are not trivial; according to the US Agency for Toxic Substances, averages of 68 ppb of methylene chloride in surface water and 98 ppb methylene chloride in groundwater have been found at some hazardous waste sites1 .
+
The benefits and disadvantages of each are summarised in the tables below.: maintaining the status quo; complete openness; confidentiality clauses; reach through licence agreements.
<br><br>
<br><br>
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/d/d6/Oxford_the_status_quo.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:100%;" />
<br><br>
<br><br>
-
<h1blue2>Drinking Water</h1blue2>
+
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/6/61/OxiGEM_Confidentiality.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative; width:100%;" />
<br><br>
<br><br>
-
Conventional water treatment techniques (coagulation, sedimentation, filtration and chlorination) have been found to have a little or no effect in reducing concentrations of DCM in drinking water. Due to the volatile organic nature of DCM, there are two existing treatment technologies that public water systems can use: air stripping and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption  The U.S. EPA recommends packed tower aeration (PTA) as a best available technology (BAT) for DCM removal in drinking water below the U.S. EPA Maximum Contaminant Level of 5 µg/L. However it should be noted that the selection of an appropriate treatment process for a specific water supply will depend on the characteristics of the raw water supply and the operational condition of the specific treatment method.
+
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/f/f4/OxiGEM_Openness.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative; width:100%;" />
<br><br>
<br><br>
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/e/e6/OxiGEM_RTLA.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative; width:100%;" />
 +
Oxford iGEM 2014
</div>
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<br>
 
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<a href="#show4" class="show" id="show4">
 
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/6/6b/OxigemGroundwater.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative;width:96%;margin-left:2%;" />
 
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</a>
 
-
<a href="#hide4" class="hide" id="hide4">
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-
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/6/6b/OxigemGroundwater.jpg" style="float:left;position:relative; width:96%;margin-left:2%" />
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<div class="white_news_block">
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<h1blue2> Government Policy </h1blue2>
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<div class="list">
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<div class="white_news_block2">
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<h1blue2><center>Marine Environment</center></h1blue2>
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<br><br>
<br><br>
-
Chlorinated solvents are generally highly volatile and only sparingly soluble in water. Even if traces of solvents are briefly present in aqueous waste streams, they volatilise from rivers and lakes with a half-life of about a month or less, unless they are trapped in groundwater. Nevertheless, presence of chlorinated solvents is a concern due to its potential impact on marine life...
+
Legislators have the difficult task of balancing a number of diverse and often conflicting intellectual property consideration. On the one hand, the government must incentivize innotvation - IP is an essential means of achieving this, as demonstrated by studies showing how patents can positively influence innovation by a margin of 15-25%<font style="vertical-align: super; font-size: 70%;">2</font> .
 +
<br><br>
 +
The flipside of this is the responsibility of the government to prevent the creation of monopoly and to ensure that ideas are shared so as to maximize productive research. Again, there is research indicating that intellectual property is crucial to maintaining this balance, as some studies have expressed concerns that patents on initial discoveries may 'delay, hamper, or deter' innovations building on the patented work. The transaction cost of working with patented material is unattractive to many researchers, particularly individuals and start-ups.<font style="vertical-align: super; font-size: 70%;">3</font>.
 +
<br><br>
 +
Based on our research and our experiences during iGEM and in the field of IP, we believe that one of the most important roles for the government is to lead a new, more imaginative line of thinking about intellectual property protection, and to move away from analyzing these issues within the traditional and deeply engrained innovation v access dichotomy.
 +
<br><br>
 +
Creating legal mechanisms to support this kind of innovative and flexible thinking about IP will be increasingly important to synthetic biology and to iGEM as the field grows increasingly complex and the dynamics between the many different interested parties continue to evolve. In order to successfully balance the demands of the public interest, investors, the environment, researchers, and inventors we will need to be more open minded when considering how to deal with IP in the future. It will not suffice to simply ask whether 'to patent or not to patent' and suppose that this is the extent of the available options.
 +
<br><br>
 +
A further issue which we believe needs addressing by a change in the law is the current incapacity of the law to provide protection for computer code and algorithms. This is an issue which extends far beyond iGEM. Counter-intuitively, the lack of protection for algorithms means that this information can justifiably be kept secret rather than being visible and accessible to the public and/or regulators. The danger of this situation was demonstrated only recently by Facebook's so called 'social experiment' during which the company controlled the newsfeed content of users in an attempt to manipulate their emotions. Jim Sheridan, a member of the Commons Media Select Committee, expressed his 'worries about the ability of Facebook and others to manipulate people's thoughts in politics or other areas', and stressed the need for legislation in this area.  
 +
<br><br>
 +
Similarly, some form of protection for computer algorithms might allow models relevant to the iGEM competition (and to synthetic biology more broadly) to be shared in a similar way to BioBricks. Engineer Leroy Lim, responsible for some of the modeling aspect of the project commented that it would have been highly useful to have models from previous years available at the beginning of the project. 'People would be far more likely to share their code and collaborate on this if we thought we'd get credit for our work...with companies it's even worse, there's no option but to keep your code to yourself because there's nothing else stopping competitors from taking everything you've developed and taking away your business'.
 +
 
</div>
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<br>
 
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 +
<div class="white_news_block" style="background-color:transparent;">
 +
<h1blue2> References </h1blue2>
 +
<br><br>For full references see our Intellectual Property Report (downloadable above).
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<div style="border-bottom-left-radius:10px;border-radius:10px; padding-left:10px;padding-right:10px;padding-top:10px;min-width:300px;margin-top: 15px;">
 
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/policy_and_practices">
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/policy_and_practices">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/33/Oxford_P%26P1.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;" /></a>
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/33/Oxford_P%26P1.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%;" /></a>
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_environmental_impact"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/33/OxiGEMProblem_Solving.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%; margin-left:2.66%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;" /></a>
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_environmental_impact"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/33/OxiGEMProblem_Solving.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%; margin-left:2.66%;" /></a>
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_environmental_impact"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/7/75/Oxford_P%26P2.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:11.8%; margin-left: 2.66%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;" /></a>
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_realisationandsafety"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/7/75/Oxford_P%26P2.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:11.8%; margin-left: 2.66%" /></a>
-
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_intellectual_property"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/0/00/Oxford_P%26P4.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%;margin-left: 2.66%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;" /></a>
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_intellectual_property"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/0/00/Oxford_P%26P4.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%;margin-left: 2.66%;" /></a>
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_communication">
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_communication">
-
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/4/43/Oxford_P%26P5.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:13%; margin-left: 2.5%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;" /></a>
+
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/4/43/Oxford_P%26P5.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:13%; margin-left: 2.5%" /></a>
-
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_public_engagement"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/32/Oxford_P%26P6.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%; margin-left: 2.66%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;" /></a>
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_public_engagement"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/32/Oxford_P%26P6.png" style="float:left;position:relative; width:12%; margin-left: 2.66%;" /></a>
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_igem_europe">
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/P&P_igem_europe">
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<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/92/Oxford_P%26P7.png" style="float:right;position:relative; width:12%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;" /></a>
+
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/92/Oxford_P%26P7.png" style="float:right;position:relative; width:12%;" /></a>
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<div id="DCMationwrap" onClick="DCMationHide()" style="position:fixed;z-index:11;width:100%; height:100%;background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.1);display:none;">
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  <div id="DCMationpopup" style="width: 0%;position:absolute; top:37%; left:5%;">
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          <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/3/32/OxigemDcmationbg.png" style="width: 100%;">
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          <div class="Heading" style="top: 14.2%; left: 31%; width:38%;" onmouseover="Subheadingbig(this)" onmouseout=
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          "Subheadingnormal(this)" border="0">
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            <a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/abstract"><img id="openabstract" src=
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            "https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/1/1f/OxigemAbstract.png" style="width: 100%;"></a>
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          <div class="Heading" style="top: 33%; left: 30.9%; width:38.2%;" onmouseover="Subheadingbig(this)" onmouseout=
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            <a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/biosensor"><img src=
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            <a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Oxford/bioremediation"><img src=
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Latest revision as of 03:46, 18 October 2014


Intellectual Property














Intellectual Property is an increasingly important and controversial aspect of scientific advance, and synthetic biology is perhaps the paradigmatic area illustrating the effects of growing legal influence. When thinking about how teams could turn their ideas from iGEM projects into viable real-world solutions, we realized that intellectual property is a crucial area to address.

Our team has produced a report exploring how teams can approach this task and how iGEM intellectual property policy can make the transition easier.

We begin with a brief overview of current intellectual property law (specifically relevant to the UK) before progressing to look at the challenges this poses for the iGEM competition. A number of different approaches which iGEM might choose to adopt towards intellectual property are discussed and the pros and cons of each are assessed. We then asked a range of interested groups, including iGEM students, professionals, and the public, for their views before concluding with recommendations for addressing intellectual property concerns in iGEM. We offer our conclusions in the form of advice to students, to the iGEM foundation, and briefly explore how a change in the law could have consequences for iGEM. This advice is purely based on our own views and our research which we hope will make interesting food for thought - it is not professional legal advice and should not be relied on as such!


Our policy research in relation to students, the iGEM foundation, and policy makers is summarized below, or download the full report to learn more about our work.
Team Policy

Dealing with intellectual property is not only necessary on the level of the competition - each team must also make decisions as to how they wish to deal with the intellectual property they will acquire during the course of their project. Deciding whether to file a patent application can be a tricky decision - below are just some of the factors you might want to take into consideration…



Oxford iGEM 2014
Attitudes Survey

We conducted a survey of attitudes within iGEM teams to intellectual property. The results, illustrated below, are analysed in detail in our report. Broadly, we found a noticeable lack of understanding of IP issues (confirming the findings of University of British Columbia iGEM team 2013 - check out their great work on IP which we used as a starting point for our own research at https://2012.igem.org/Team:British_Columbia/Human_Practices/IP_FAQ), and a great deal of social-mindedness in the responses.

For a complete analysis of our results, take a look at our Intellectual Property Report...


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  • The majority of teams (85%) appear to feel that there is at least the possibility that their project could be turned into a viable business or project – this makes sense given that many teams seek to use their project as an opportunity to use synthetic biology to address a problem.
  • Again, this chart shows how many teams believe their project is relevant to society. There was a split, slightly skewed towards commercial investment, in terms of the favoured means of funding, although it should be noted that many participants selected more than one option, suggesting mixed feelings and uncertainty on this question. Donation to the public domain was a popular option, indicating that many students support the BioBrick agreement and are keen to contribute their parts to it.
  • Responses to this question support the need for guidance for iGEM teams on IP issues. Possible explanations for this the larger than expected (29%) group selecting 'adequate' include: evidence of a Drunning-Kruger effect whereby people overestimate their level of knowledge; underestimating the significance and relevance of intellectual property law to synthetic biology; or a genuinely adequate understanding amongst students.
  • Sangamo patents zinc finger nuclease technology

    Sangamo's patent, titled "Nucleic acid binding proteins (zinc finger proteins design rules)", ensures that any use or production of zinc fingers with attached nucleases is the intellectual property of Sangamo.

  • The graph indicates that profit is the least important considerations to students, but all others ranked more or less equally overall. The most important factor overall was benefit to society.



Oxford iGEM 2014
Young Synthetic Biologists Intellectual Property Workshop

In the process of putting together our report and our guidance for iGEM teams, our team, in collaboration with the event organisers Philipp and Bethan of UCL iGEM, ran an intellectual property workshop at the Young Synthetic Biologists Conference 2.0 for other iGEMmers interested in the issue. The event was a great success; teams attending said 'I hadn't really appreciated just how big an impact this area of law could have on scientific development and particularly on synthetic biology - it's given me a lot to think about!'. We had a great time and there were some really interesting and insightful debates and comments - thanks especially to iGEM Cambridge for their passion on this topic!





Another team member stated, 'I don't think our team had really put much thought into the IP ownership of our project - it's definitely something we should consider though, as we would want to be able to stop anyone using our project for potentially harmful research'. 'I always thought IP was kind of a binary question - you either patent something, or you give it away. But there are so many options in between. It's a very nuanced area of law, I think that's the main thing I hadn't really appreciated, there are lots of different ways you can share or protect your ideas'.


View the Oxford iGEM powerpoint presentation used as the basis for our workshop below!


















Special thanks for the success of this event are owed to:
Bethan Wolfenden and Philipp Boeing for organising and iGEM UCL for hosting the YSB event
Andrew Russell, Glen Gowers, and Philipp Lorenz
Dundee, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and all the other teams which attended and had such enthusiasm for the debate!
iGEM policy

Given its ever increasing prominence in the field of synthetic biology and its unavoidable influence on the future of the field, iGEM must cannot remain neutral on the matter of intellectual property. In the words of iGEM start-up Morph Bioinformatics, “iGEM must position itself and not only define its role in the world of biotech - but also how it sees the role of synbio”.

iGEM’s approach to intellectual property will be intrinsically related to its overall position and self-definition in this exciting emerging field. “It is time now to rationalize this 'big picture' and find a business model by treating the public, academia, biotech, pharma etc. as different units to optimize and synergize their outputs. And as with all business and communities the major factor of success is to follow one ultimate vision - and that should remain increasing the quality of life”.

iGEM’s approach to intellectual property being critical for the future of the competition, its teams, and even the future of synthetic biology, our report analyses three alternative approaches to iGEM in dealing with this legal issue.

The benefits and disadvantages of each are summarised in the tables below.: maintaining the status quo; complete openness; confidentiality clauses; reach through licence agreements.







Oxford iGEM 2014
Government Policy

Legislators have the difficult task of balancing a number of diverse and often conflicting intellectual property consideration. On the one hand, the government must incentivize innotvation - IP is an essential means of achieving this, as demonstrated by studies showing how patents can positively influence innovation by a margin of 15-25%2 .

The flipside of this is the responsibility of the government to prevent the creation of monopoly and to ensure that ideas are shared so as to maximize productive research. Again, there is research indicating that intellectual property is crucial to maintaining this balance, as some studies have expressed concerns that patents on initial discoveries may 'delay, hamper, or deter' innovations building on the patented work. The transaction cost of working with patented material is unattractive to many researchers, particularly individuals and start-ups.3.

Based on our research and our experiences during iGEM and in the field of IP, we believe that one of the most important roles for the government is to lead a new, more imaginative line of thinking about intellectual property protection, and to move away from analyzing these issues within the traditional and deeply engrained innovation v access dichotomy.

Creating legal mechanisms to support this kind of innovative and flexible thinking about IP will be increasingly important to synthetic biology and to iGEM as the field grows increasingly complex and the dynamics between the many different interested parties continue to evolve. In order to successfully balance the demands of the public interest, investors, the environment, researchers, and inventors we will need to be more open minded when considering how to deal with IP in the future. It will not suffice to simply ask whether 'to patent or not to patent' and suppose that this is the extent of the available options.

A further issue which we believe needs addressing by a change in the law is the current incapacity of the law to provide protection for computer code and algorithms. This is an issue which extends far beyond iGEM. Counter-intuitively, the lack of protection for algorithms means that this information can justifiably be kept secret rather than being visible and accessible to the public and/or regulators. The danger of this situation was demonstrated only recently by Facebook's so called 'social experiment' during which the company controlled the newsfeed content of users in an attempt to manipulate their emotions. Jim Sheridan, a member of the Commons Media Select Committee, expressed his 'worries about the ability of Facebook and others to manipulate people's thoughts in politics or other areas', and stressed the need for legislation in this area.

Similarly, some form of protection for computer algorithms might allow models relevant to the iGEM competition (and to synthetic biology more broadly) to be shared in a similar way to BioBricks. Engineer Leroy Lim, responsible for some of the modeling aspect of the project commented that it would have been highly useful to have models from previous years available at the beginning of the project. 'People would be far more likely to share their code and collaborate on this if we thought we'd get credit for our work...with companies it's even worse, there's no option but to keep your code to yourself because there's nothing else stopping competitors from taking everything you've developed and taking away your business'.
References

For full references see our Intellectual Property Report (downloadable above).











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